The executive vice-chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Umar Danbatta, has said it is on the verge of concluding the processes to issue the regulation on Electronic Waste which it drafted three years ago.
Danbatta who disclosed this at a world press conference to commemorate the 2021 World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD), stated that the objective of the regulation is to manage E-waste; promote reuse, recycling and other forms of recovery; improve the environmental management system of operators in the telecom industry, and reduce greenhouse emissions as well as enhance sustainable development efforts.
According to him, the theme for World Consumer Rights Day for 2021, “Tackling Plastic Pollution” will raise awareness and engage state and non-state actors on the global plastic pollution crisis. This is coming three years after the NCC drafted the Nigerian Communications Commission Industry E-waste Regulations in 2018.
The telecom regulator noted that many ICT and telecom devices have plastic components, whose waste materials could worsen plastic pollution, said “we reckon that improper disposal of such disused ICT-plastic embedded products has grave implication on public health, and especially in achieving Goals 11, 12 and 13 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030.”
Furthermore, he said NCC, worried by the recurrent cycle of fraudulent deployment of fake and substandard mobile devices – usually made of iron and plastic components, collaborated with the Office of the National Security Adviser and other relevant government agencies to inaugurate a committee to implement Mobile Devices Management Systems (DMS).
In his welcome remark, the executive commissioner, stakeholder management, Barr Adeleke Adewolu, said NCC has been unwavering in its commitment to the primacy of the consumer in the architecture of the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.
“For this reason, the NCC has received many awards, and we will not rest on our oars. This also explains why we have organised today’s conference to recall policies, initiatives, programmes and activities of the Commission towards protecting the rights and addressing the concerns of the Nigerian telecom consumer,” he added.
