The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has restated its commitment to continue to strengthen collaboration with judicial institutions in Nigeria.
This is in the bid to further protect telecoms infrastructure in the country.
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, gave the assurance during a courtesy visit by a high-powered delegation of the Kano State Judiciary to the Chief Telecom Regulator at the NCC Kano Zonal Office, in Kano, recently.
Addressing the judicial delegation, Danbatta said, while the Commission is doing everything within its regulatory mandate to enforce compliance among licensees as well as collaborate with stakeholders to protect telecom infrastructure, some individuals indulge in willful damage of telecom infrastructure, vandalism, telecoms facility theft, and fibre cuts, among other crimes.
According to him, these criminal acts conspire to degrade the quality of service (QoS) in the country, and since the NCC has no prosecutorial power, the need to strengthen collaboration with the judicial arm of the government at all levels has become expedient.
He further said that the NCC does not have prosecutorial power in criminal acts committed by the citizens and licensees which are inimical to the progress of the sector.
More so, the ways and manners with which such criminal cases are being dispensed by the judiciary is appreciated by the NCC.
He affirmed that this is a testimony to the kind of cooperation NCC has been enjoying from the judiciary.
The Chairman also said that the Commission will never fold its arms while unscrupulous citizens cause havoc on telecommunications infrastructure since that affects the quality of service innocent citizens enjoy.
In his words, “therein lies the importance of the judiciary in the work that we have been assigned by the government to do.
We appreciate this cooperation with the judiciary and we are5 committed to ensuring that the cooperation grows stronger and stronger going forward,” he said.
Furthermore, the just-concluded NCC Judges Workshop held in Abuja was a very important initiative of the Commission to continuously collaborate with members of the judicial arm of government.
This collaboration will be better implemented by updating them with the trends and regulatory dynamism of the sector to improve their knowledge for effective dispensation of justice.
Early into his address, the Chief Registrar of Kano State High Court of Justice, Abdullahi Ado Bayero, who led the delegation, commended the efforts of Prof. Danbatta and NCC in the fast-tracking digital transformation of governance and other sectors of the economy.
He added that the Judiciary arm as a whole has recognised the necessity and inevitability of the digital justice system as well as the full integration of the ICT-based court system in the administration of justice.
He said this position is well entrenched in the National Judiciary Information Technology Policy (NJITP), 2021 and is consistent with the NCC’s objective and strategic intervention to advance ICT knowledge and training for various public institutions in Nigeria.
Conclusively, Justice Bayero said It is in cord with the above that the Kano Justice State Judiciary is determined to explore all necessary avenues and opportunities to integrate ICT-based court systems as well as digitised justice delivery systems for the efficient and effective administration of justice in the state.
To effectively implement all solutions and maximise all digital-based opportunities for the collective success of the Judicial arm, Justice Bayero requested NCC’s intervention.
