By 
By Oluwatobi Opusunju
As part of efforts to protect the over $80bn telecoms investment and ensure improvement in the quality of telecommunication services across the country, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to protect the Nation’s critical telecommunication infrastructure. The MOU was signed on Wednesday after the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta had a meeting with the Commandant General of the NADDC in his office in Abuja.
The signing of the MOU is the climax of a sequence of meetings, visitations and serial discourse between the two organisations that will see greater security and protection provided for telecommunication facilities by the NSCDC’s department of Critical National Infrastructure Protection.
Vandalism and theft of telecom infrastructure and facilities have been central recurring challenges to the attainment of the parameters defining the applicable quality of service standards for specific services in the telecommunication industry in Nigeria.
This year, as part of the efforts of the Commission to tame the manage and ultimately halt the criminalities associated with telecommunication service provision, NCC has organised 6 Zonal Sensitization Workshops for Agencies in the security sector to deepen the understanding of each agency’s role in curbing the crimes undermining the quality of service in the telecom sector.
Similarly, a bill to ensure that all telecom infrastructures are treated as part of the National critical infrastructure and public property is currently being pursued by the NCC at the National Assembly. The bill when passed into law will give more legal teeth in the prosecution of vandals and thieves of telecoms infrastructure.
