By Our Correspondent
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has activated the Emergency Communications Centres (ECC) to fulfil needful job opportunities for Nigerian youths.
Reuben Muoka, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs announced this in a statement emailed to TheNewsZenith on Thursday.
Muoka stated that this move was beyond NCC’s efforts at providing essential emergency response services to the Nigerian public.
“NCC now provides employment placements for many Nigerian youth and professionals. It is also offering informal business activities to the citizens across the country,” he noted.
He said the commission constructed the ECC which “is now fully operational in 27 States.
The centres are reachable by Toll-Free Number 112 and are operating in a similar design to the 911 Emergency Numbers in some developed countries.
“They provide succour to individuals, who are witnesses or under distress of emergency, arising from fire outbreaks, robbery or violent attacks, domestic and road accidents, a health crisis.
The centres provide instant contact with response agencies through the three-digit toll-free number, 112.
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“Four more centres are currently undergoing test runs to commence services in September 2023, bringing the total to 31.
“Another set of four centres are expected to come into operations before the end of the year,” the statement read in part.
Muoka also stated that the Commission provided technology platforms such as Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems for the respective response agencies.
These agencies include the Police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Fire Service and Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC).
Others are Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ambulance Service and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA).
He explained that ECC would facilitate the dispatch of emergency calls through the national emergency toll-free number 112.
NCC designed the code to ensure citizens, in emergency situations, can easily recall the three-digit code to report emergency situations.
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“We have trained and equipped ECC agents with state-of-the-art communications equipment to enable responders to easily identify locations of incidents.
“The equipment includes digital radio, Internet protocol (IP) and geo-location technologies for efficient delivery of rescue services to the public.
“Emergency centre services in Nigeria are available, live, 24 hours a day as the agents run in shifts to ensure that services are delivered at all times of the day.”
ECCs also provide additional socio-economic responsibility of providing job opportunities to the citizens as each of the centres has staff made up of Call agents, Facility/IT Staff and Administrators.
In effect, NCC currently offers employment to more than 1,200 people at the 27 operational centres across the country.
“NCC will employ more people as the additional eight centres nearing completion become fully operational by 2024.”
The directed added NCC has engaged indigenous Nigerian consultants to provide total facility and operational management to the centres.
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