Consumer Affairs Bureau

 

Who We Are

The Consumer Affairs Bureau is one of the key departments of the Nigerian Communications Commission. It was created in September 2001 by the Commission through the provision of Chapter VII of Nigerian Communications Act (NCA 2003), in particular, Part I of the chapter which deals with Consumer Protection and Quality of Service.

Our Motto

The Motto of the Bureau is “ Take advantage of us, so no one takes advantage of you”

Our Vision

To ensure that all consumers of Telecommunications services in Nigeria are well informed and satisfied

Our Mission

To ensure the protection of the rights, privileges and interests of telecommunications consumers, including the physically challenged groups through adequate information dissemination  programmes; as well as effective policies and strategies that promote effective telecoms service delivery.

Units & Functional Strategies

The CAB comprises of the following three (3) units all reporting to the Director, Consumer Affairs:

  • Consumer Information and Education (CIE)
  • The Consumer Policy Development and monitoring Unit (CPDM)
  • The Consumer Protection and Advocacy Unit (CPA)

Consumer Information and Education (CIE)

The mandate of the Consumer Information and Education unit is to disseminate information through various channels on the rights and obligations of telecom Consumers with a view to and empowering Consumers and other stakeholders in the industry. Other functions include:

  1. Empower Consumers through awareness creation programmes such as the following Outreach events to educate Consumers of their rights, privileges and obligations:
    • Telecom Consumer Parliament (TCP) (f2f and Virtual).
    • Telecom Consumer Conversations
      1. Professionals’ Dialogue
      2. NYSC Camp Sensitization
      3. Campus Conversation
      4. The Market Conversation
      5. The Village Square Dialogue
  2. World Consumer Rights Day
  3. Telecom Consumer Town Hall on Radio.
  4. Telecom & the Citizen (Twitter Live Chat)
  5. Online dissemination of consumer information & education on NCC’s social media handle
  6. Production of factsheet into bookmarks in English & translation in local languages (Hausa, Igbo, Pidgin and Yoruba).
  7. Consumer Portal Editorial Functions.
  8. Production of Skits, digital banners, audio-visuals for consumer education and awareness.
  9. Conduct research and publication of Consumer Information and education materials for dissemination to Consumers.
  10. Empower Consumers through dissemination of information at International Trade Fairs and ICT Conferences and Exhibition.
  11. Collaborate with Consumer Advocacy Groups and Government institutions in Consumer Awareness Creation and Education.

The Consumer Policy Development and Monitoring Unit (CPDM)

The Consumer Policy Development and Monitoring Unit is tasked with development of consumer friendly policies and monitoring of quality of service provided by network operators. Other functions include:

  1. Conducting research and investigations into topical issues/complaints with a view to developing Consumer centric policies.
  2. The unit also monitors service providers spread of customer care centers and quality of service delivery around the country while monitoring helplines on a daily basis.
  3. Coordinates the conduction of bi-annual nationwide surveys on Consumer satisfaction to ascertain Consumer perception of services rendered and the determination of a Consumer satisfaction index for the industry.
  4. As the custodian of the General Consumer code of Practice Regulation, 2007, the unit carries out annual review of the regulation and Individual Consumer codes of practice submitted by all NCC licenses.
  5. The unit reviews applications for promotions and industry reward schemes and also monitors implementation of such.

The Consumer Protection and Advocacy Unit (CPA)

Consumer Protection is charged with the protection of all telecom Consumers and ensures that their queries are well attended to by their Service Providers.
The unit also manages and supervises the NCC Outsourced Contact Centers daily activities to ensure that quality assurance and other standards are followed. Other functions include;

  1. Provision of Second Level Support to Consumers who have called their Service Providers but have their issues either unresolved or unsatisfactorily resolved.
  2. Remote and on spot Monitoring of NCC outsourced contact center.
  3. Producing daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual reports on NCC Outsourced Contact Centers and Service Providers customer care activities.
  4. Develop Service Providers Call Centers monitoring guide lines.
  5. Monitor the resolution standards of all consumer issues by the Service Providers.
  6. Develop standard customer care best practice.
  7. Coordinating special projects and activities such as:
    • Industry Consumer Advisory Forum (ICAF)
    • Technical Working Group on Child Online Protection (TWG NCOP).
    • National Stakeholders’ workshops on the needs of the challenged Groups into ICT provisioning.
  8. Collaboration and Support of Special / Specific Consumer Advocacy Groups.
  9. Research on global Consumer Advocacy issues and recommend to Management for regulatory intervention
  10. Development, review and publication of guidelines for an all inclusive service provisioning of ICT services