NCC May Harmonise Emergency Numbers

Plans have been intensified by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to harmonise the various emergency numbers that currently exist among government agencies and telecommunication operators across the country.

The NCC, which stated this, added that creating or having a uniform emergency number would assist immensely in emergency situations.

Currently, the country is said to have about three including the 122; 112; 199 of the old NITEL.

Disclosing the harmonisation plan at the eWorld Forum 2013 in Lagos, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, said the move became necessary in order to further strengthen the drive for road safety, using technology tools.

“One critical effort of the commission in the direction of improving road safety is the current deployment of Emergency Communication Centres (ECC) in all the state capitals and Abuja.

“This is a nationwide system that will utilise the universal 112 code for telephone users to reach all emergency service like the Police, Fire Service Commission, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Ambulance Services, among others,” Juwah said.

Making reference to the theme of the forum titled: “ICT and improving road society”, Juwah, who was represented by the Director, Public Affairs of NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, noted that ICT has huge role to play in managing road safety in the country.

According to him, the existence of GPRS, GPS among other Internet applications have helped to strengthen road transportation.

Juwah, however, explained that the plan harmonisation plan would focus on all existing emergency centres in all state capitals, as well as all existing emergency numbers from various agencies, such that Nigerians would be familiar with only one emergency number that would link all emergency centres in the country.

According to him, in developed countries where it is currently practised, telecoms regulators and operators are not directly involved in the management, but explained that NCC would continue to manage the centres in Nigeria, until government is able to create an agency that has the capacity to manage the centres.

He said Nigerians may not remember the different emergency numbers of different agencies like the Police, FRSC, Fire Service Commission, among others when they find themselves in a distress situation, like road accidents, fire outbreak, collapsed building, among others and they needed to make instant distress call.

For instance, Fire Service Commission has its emergency number different from FRSC and the Police. When people are under tensed situation, and have need to make distress calls, they tend to forget the number that will address the situation. But NCC has planned it in such a way that it would harmonise all existing emergency numbers with different agencies, such that Nigerians could dial only 112 for any kinds of distress calls, be it road accident, fire outbreak, armed robbery, collapsed building, among others.

According to him, NCC, in collaboration with the Federal Government, has built two emergency centres in Minna in Niger State, and Awka in Anambra State. The two centres, which are ready for commissioning, will serve as pilot centres to receive all emergency calls from a single code of 112, and staff at the centres will immediately re-direct the distress call to the appropriate channel and to the nearest location to the scene of the incident, for prompt rescue action. While the Awka Centre will handle calls from West, Eastern and Southern parts of the country, the Mina Centre will handle calls from the Middle Belt, North Central and other Northern parts of the country.

Ojobo said the idea would help improve road safety and save lives and property that are exposed to unexpected dangers, adding that the challenge would be on the management of the harmonised centres.

While warning about the dangers in using mobile devices while driving, he said the last three decades have seen huge vehicular growth, but that on a yearly basis, about 1.2 million people are killed in road accidents globally.

He said road safety administration has tapped into ICT for years to be effective, stressing that ICT applications has helped in safety management.