Telecom consumers and their rights

In his presentation at the event, a lawyer and a consultant to NCC, Mr Ayoola Oke said consumer protection is the mechanism that guarantees fairness to consumers in terms of quality of goods and services given to them. It is the means by which the quality of the services and goods are guaranteed and the […]

In his presentation at the event, a lawyer and a consultant to NCC, Mr Ayoola Oke said consumer protection is the mechanism that guarantees fairness to consumers in terms of quality of goods and services given to them. It is the means by which the quality of the services and goods are guaranteed and the assurance that they are not cheated but that they get value and benefits for money paid by them. In addition, he said, it is a process by which service and goods providers are held accountable for what they supply to their customers or consumers. He said: “Information made up of true and credible facts, is the building block of knowledge and thus both information and knowledge are often referred to as power.

“On the other hand education is the ability to process and utilise facts for the benefit and advancement of the consumer. Education generally is the development of the human mind. It is not enough just to have facts and knowledge, which is information, but it is also important for consumers to have the ability to understand these facts and know how to utilise the facts to their own advantage. We have to note that of all the stakeholders of the Telecommunication Industry the Consumer is the central and most important stakeholder.

The Consumer is the King and the central focus of the Market. Goods and services must be tailored to the needs and demands of the Consumer otherwise such goods and services are useless. Goods and Services are only useful to the extent that they can provide benefit and advantage to the consumer.

Thus Service Providers have to ensure that their services will provide optimum advantage and benefit to the Consumer.” From the above, he said, Service Providers have to understand the need to provide information to the consumers. “Information of the different types of services and goods that are available in the virtual or actual market place “Disclosure of all facts relating to theirs services, including the terms and conditions for enjoying the services and the prices and fees for enjoying such services.

“The advantages of engaging in such services and benefits that can be derived from such services and the various optional services that are available for the use of a consumer. The location from where those services can be procured. The locations where the services can be utilised and how the services can be utilised as well as how the services can be terminated”, he said. All these, he said, would enable the Consumer to make the best choices from what is available and how to derive the greatest benefit and satisfaction from these goods and services.

He said a consumer needs to be educated about how best to utilised services for personal, social, political and economic gain and advantage. “It is not enough for consumers to just know about goods and service but they must be able to know how best to convert the usage of these goods and services for their own good. Thus it is important for service providers to impact the thinking of consumers and appreciation of services. "Thus Consumer Workshop, Conferences, Seminars need to be conducted by other stakeholders to develop thee thinking of consumers about the utilisation of service delivery for their own advantages and benefits”, he said