Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, Thursday, teamed with the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC and other government agencies, set up committees to combat the fake and cloned mobile phones entering the Nigerian market.
The committees are the Project Steering Committee, PSC, comprising the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, ICRC, the Federal Ministry of Communications and the NCC; and the Project Delivery Team, PDT, which draws representation from the Federal Ministry of Communications, the ICRC, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the NCC.
The committees are to work together to ensure the implementation of Mobile Devices Management Systems DMS, a Public-Private Partnership project, aimed at combating the proliferation of fake, counterfeit, substandard and cloned mobile communications devices in the telecommunication industry.
At the inauguration in Abuja, Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman, EVC of NCC, said the move was in line with the mandate of the Commission, as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003, to type-approve all devices used in the telecommunications industry and to ensure that all devices used in the telecommunications industry are in line with agreed standards and specifications.
The principal objective of the proposed DMS project, according to him, is to “Establish a secure and comprehensive single-window solution that will enable the Commission to implement a proven solution in the Nigerian environment that is sustainable and demonstrate value for money in addition helping to address the various concerns that have been raised with the NCC from the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, in our regular interactions on security matters as it concerns the telecommunications industry.”