Nigerian government’s nationwide emergency communications centers have gulped over NGN10 billion according to Prof. Umar Danbatta, executive vice-chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Yesterday, Danbatta said the sum was spent on setting up emergency communication centres across the country – even though, as he noted, many Nigerians are unaware of the existence of the centers.
Speaking during the visit of the Foreign Defence Attaches organised by the Nigerian Defence Intelligence Agency to NCC office, Danbatta said many countries are not aware that Nigeria has emergency communication centres that provide an avenue for them to be given emergency services.
Defence Attachés from Zambia, Angola, Bukina-Faso, Russia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Niger Republic, South Africa, Congo-Brazzaville, Iran, Mali, Netherlands, Chad, Italy, Turkey, Cameroon, U.S., and Japan were on the delegation.
“We are trying to improve the process of emergency services to Nigerians; to date, we have expended more than N10 billion. NCC set up the centres in line with the directive given to us by the Federal Government through the National Assembly,’’ Danbatta said.
The purpose of the centers he said is to provide an interface to citizens in distress or requiring emergence services. He added that the centres were established in collaboration with the emergency service providers such as Fire Service, Ambulance Services, Federal Road Safety Corps and the Police.
In his remark, the leader of the group, Commodore Aminu Hassan, Deputy-Director, Liasion Services, Defence Intelligence Agency, said that the team was in NCC to see the area of investments. Hassan said that the foreign attaches from the various countries were working with the Nigerian Armed Forces to promote cooperation between Nigeria and the various countries they represent.“This is to expose the Defence Attachés to the huge potential of investments in the country particularly in NCC. In the military, we take communication very important, as it is the backbone of military operations,” he said.
