……. Providing Direct Employment for Over 1200 Nigerians
A total of 27 Emergency Communication Centres have been constructed by the Nigerian Communications Commission and are fully operational in the state capitals across the country.The Emergency Communications Centres which provide succor and support to millions of Nigerians who find themselves in challenging situations such as accidents, robbery attacks etc also double as sources of employment to several Nigerians who earn their keeps from the services they render at the Centres in addition to enabling other informal businesses.The centres are reachable on 112 toll-free codeçc patterned after the 911 emergency numbers in Another four centres which are currently undergoing test-runs are billed to become fully operational by end of September while yet another four are expected to be completed by the end of the year.The Commission provided technology platforms such as Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems for the respective response agencies such as police, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Fire Service, Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Ambulance Service, and State Emergency Management Agencies (SEMA) to facilitate the dispatch of emergency calls through the national emergency toll-free number 112.Agents of the ECCs, have been trained, and equipped with state-of-the-art communications equipment, including digital radio and Internet-protocol (IP) and geo-location technologies to enable responders to easily identify location of incidents for effective and efficient delivery of rescue services to the public.Emergency Centre services in Nigeria are available, live, 24 hours of the day as the agents run in shifts to ensure that services are delivered at all times of the day. The response agencies, such as the Police with round-the-clock duties to prevent, stop and arrest crimes, are now being provided with additional mobile communications devices, some installed in their offices, to enable them to instantly receive information from call agents at the centres. This is to also ensure that top echelon of the force are provided instant information for command and control over emergency situations or incidents across the country.As the ECCs assume more crucial roles in providing emergency communications services to the citizenry, it is also providing additional socio-economic responsibility of providing job opportunities to the citizens as each of the centres have staffs made up of Call agents, Facility/IT Staff, and Administrators. The basic salaries of the staff of ECCs, have been carefully set by the Commission, to ensure that the jobs at the centres are attractive for the Nigerian youths, and other category of employees. In effect, more than 1,200 are currently offered employment at the 27 operational centres across the country, while more will be employed as the additional 8 centres under different stages of completion become fully operational by 2024. The Centres are also managed by indigenous Nigerian consultants who are engaged to provide total facility and operational management of the centres.