By Cyber Era Reporter
The National Emergency Number 112 established by telecommunications sector referee, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), is offering the much desired relief to Nigerians in the nation’s collective efforts to contain the Coronavirus(COVID-19) pandemic.
97million Nigerians are believed to be living in abject poverty, but with the toll-free 112 facilitated by the NCC, they are able to call emergency response agencies/or first responders with respect to any issue they may want to report on the Coronavirus or other health-related issues and emergencies.
Already, the federal and subnational government agencies are leveraging the 112 National Emergency Number, whose calls are handled through the Emergency Communication Centre (ECC) established by the Commission across the country.
The ECC project is the brainchild of NCC to enable easy communication by Nigerians with emergency first responders such as Police, Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corps(FRSC), National Orientation Agency (NOA) among others, by dialing the three-digit toll-free number.
On assuming office as the Executive Vice Chairman and Chief Executive Officer(EVC/CEO) of NCC in 2015, Prof. Umar Danbatta, quickly put machinery in place to accelerate the implementation of ECCs across the country in line with the decision of the Nigerian government to enhance security of lives and property and as mandated by the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003.
The NCC fast-tracked the execution of the emergency project, whose implementation had hitherto been dragging, in recognition of its mandates to promote and enhance public safety through the use of a particular number, which shall be designed as the universal safety and emergency assistance number for telephone services generally.
So far, the ECCs, with their operational 112 toll-free emergency number, have been implemented in 17 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Aside FCT, beneficiary states of the ECC include Benue, Kwara, Plateau, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Ogun, Ekiti, Ondo, Oyo, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Imo, Enugu, Anambra and Adamawa.
Efforts by the Commission are underway to deploy the ECC facility in other states.
Already, the Governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, identified the centrality of the 112 number towards handling citizens’ calls for help in this time of Coronavirus pandemic.
Obaseki , in a state-wide broadcast to sensitise the people of the state on the epidemic, urged the people of Edo State to take advantage of 112 three-digit, toll-free number to get help from response agencies in case they wanted to pass critical information to the government and the State Task Force on COVID-19.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, on March 19, 2020, unveiled the Abuja ECC facility and flagged off the 112 National Emergency Number during the commissioning of the NCC’s Communications and Digital Economy Complex at the Mbora District of Abuja.
The President explained that the 112 Number demonstrated his administration’s resolve to keep Nigerians safe.
Said he: “We have taken advantage of digital technologies to ensure that Nigerians in distress are only a dial away from the relevant emergency response institutions in the country” via the 112 Number.
According to him, the NCC’s 112 National Emergency Number would go a long way in supporting our efforts to improve the security of lives and property.
