The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has revealed that its reviewed act will soon be made public for the media, and critical stakeholders of the industry as well as other Nigerians who subscribe to telecommunications services to have their say on it.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Dambatta disclosed this in Kano on Monday while addressing newsmen at a workshop for Judges on legal issues on telecommunications.
At the event with the theme, “The Adjudication Path in A Digital Era”, he stated that the current Act that was put in place in 2003, is not in tune with the needs of the current challenges.
“We have the Nigerian Communications Act, which established the NCC in 2003, more than 20 years ago.
“A one time Chief Justice of the Federation said this act is anachronistic, meaning it is old and therefore needs to be reviewed.
“I assured members of the judiciary that this review process is going on as we speak.
“At an appropriate time members of the media will be invited to witness the presentation of the reviewed NCC Act during an engagement forum to critical members of the Industry as well as other Nigerians who subscribe to telecommunications services, they will have a say during the presentation of the reviewed Act to the public,” he stated.
Speaking on the need for the workshop, Dambatta explained that the general idea is to bring members of the judiciary up to speed with the development in the telecommunications sector so that when there are cases adjudication, “they can be able to do this with knowledge about the telecommunications industry in their finger tips”.
“Therefore the adjudication becomes easy and dispensation of justice will be done quickly and with fairness.
“As I mentioned in the course of my opening remarks, the entire world is transforming to a network trend society.
“Meaning, telecommunications has become the order of the day, and services are daily being hosted on the networks and on the infrastructure and every year there is need to ensure there is no erosion of privacy that data privacy laws are respected and cyber crimes are kept away.
“In the event where these three things happen; erosion of security and privacy, data crimes on the networks and other forms of crimes, are committed, then they are referred to the NCC, then the NCC has the power for mediation and arbitration but does not have prosecutorial powers. Only competent courts of jurisdiction have such powers.
“It is important when you refer such cases of adjudication that the distinguished members of the judiciary are conversant with the cases.
“The essence behind this workshop is to equip them with development in the sector such that they can be able to dispense with cases arising from disputes within the telecommunications sector with full knowledge of what is happening in the sector” he added.
Declaring the event open earlier, the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola stated that as judicial officers, they cannot deny the fact that information technology and telecommunications services have surpassed the conventional method of court services delivery, as the use of the internet is becoming a prominent feature of this era with innovative and interactive influences on the public.
“However, your responsibilities as judicial officers is to remain vigilant in addressing ethical and legal dimensions associated with these technologies, ensuring transparency, fairness and preservation of due process in virtual and augmented reality and environment is paramount to maintaining public trust and confidence in the judiciary” he said.
