NCC, NSCDC Partner Against  Telecom Industry Crimes 

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has partnered with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to tackle criminal activities bedeviling the telecommunication industry in the country.
NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr Reuben Muoka, made this known in a statement  in Abuja, Sunday.
Muoka, who said senior management staff of NSCDC in the South-West Zone had at an exclusive workshop organised by the Commission, hailed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) sealed between the two government agencies.
He said criminal activities such as telecom equipment vandalism and fraudulent registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards are going to be looked into.
According to him, topical issues discussed at the workshop covered the activities of NCC as presented by the relevant departments in the context of laws, other regulations and in relation to the roles of NSCDC.
He quoted  the Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, to have  said the Commission had over the years worked with relevant law enforcement agencies towards protecting telecoms sector from all kinds of criminality.
“Through despicable activities that are criminal and totally at variance with national security concerns of government, the deviant elements in our midst have been acting to undermine efforts put in place to consolidate the gains of the sector.
“These criminal activities include theft and vandalism of telecommunications infrastructure, the illegal use of fraudulently-registered SIM cards, operating without license, illegal call masking and so on,” he said.
Danbatta hinted that the workshop was organiised as part of efforts to constantly engage and update them on new trends and existing regulations.
This, he said, required concerted efforts for their implementation towards enhancing sanity in the telecoms sector.
He commended NSCDC and other agencies for carrying out raids and mopping up fraudulently-registered SIM cards found in circulation.
The EVC also lauded the agencies for raising the banner of awareness on the need to protect critical national telecoms infrastructure.

Danbatta, represented by the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, NCC, Mr Ephraim Nwokonneya, said the gathering was to explore deployment of enabling laws, subsidiary legislations and extant guidelines to arrest criminality in the sector.