Senate Reinforces Legal Status For NCC’s National Emergency Number 112
Senate reinforces legal status for NCC’s National Emergency Number 112
The Senate of Nigeria has taken additional steps to strengthen the legal status of the country's National Emergency Number 112, which is administered by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) through its Emergency Communication Centres (ECC).
The Senate Committee on Communications recently held a one-day public hearing during which stakeholders provided insightful testimony and observations on two Senate Committee on Communications bills. These include the Nigerian Postal Service Act (Repeal and Establishment) Bill, 2021, and the Nationwide Toll-Free Emergency Number (Establishment) Bill, 2021, both of which are sponsored by Ogun State Senator Ibikunle Amosun.
The emergency number bill passed its second reading on Wednesday, April 21, 2021, and the recent Senate public hearing on the bill was intended to have extensive discussion about how to strengthen the bill to ensure a more effective, uniform, and well-coordinated national emergency number 112, similar to the 999 emergency number in the United Kingdom and 911 in the United States, when it is finally passed into law.
At the public hearing, Senate President Dr Ahmed Lawan emphasized the importance of enacting such a bill into a National Assembly Act, noting that the critical role of communication in the modern era, particularly in dealing with emergency situations, cannot be overstated.
Similarly, Senate Committee Chairman Oluremi Tinubu stated that when the bill is passed, it will establish the Nationwide Toll-Free Number as the primary emergency number and contact point for all emergency services in Nigeria, thereby consolidating the country's various emergency numbers into a single uniform number and empowering the NCC to supervise and ensure compliance.
Senator Amosun, who is represented by Senator Odebiyi Akinremi, stated that the bill seeks to establish 112 as Nigeria's emergency number, stating that "this will enable citizens to receive prompt and timely response to all types of emergency situations, including road accidents, fire outbreaks, burglary, and medical emergencies."
Likewise, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, commended the Senate for organizing the public hearing. While the NCC has established functional ECCs in 23 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, the Minister stated that efforts are intensifying to establish ECCs in the remaining 13 states of the Federation for the purpose of processing emergency calls made through the 112 Number.
In Conclusion
At the public hearing, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, made a number of valuable recommendations that will help make the bill, which he stated may be referred to as the 'National Emergency Communication Act, 2021,' more effective in terms of board composition, scope, and ability to accommodate emergency services under various statutory and regulatory aegis.
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