FRAUD Incorporated

The fight against corruption truly is not the sole responsibility of the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC), as corruption has become a norm in our daily routine; hence it is seldom difficult to identify some of them, either because they have been with us from onset or we are just used to them.
This course requires a drastic review, considering the fact that many Nigerians are naïve of some of the frauds they are subjected to in the form of service provisions. Apparently; the late Afrobeat mystreo Fela Anikulapo Kuti, the Abami Eda himself might have seen some of these situations to come before the release of one his popular tracks “Suffering and smiling”.
The Nigerian nation today has been branded a corrupt entity, both locally and internationally, but none amongst these branding managers have been able to point out the numerous means the populace have been officially and legally subjected to fraud and still no-one is crying out or better still the many cries are not heard by the relevant authorities.
In as much as The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) will cease, destroy and prosecute those involved in the importation of substandard (fake) drugs into the country, an exercise that was one of the hallmark achievements of Prof. Dora Akunyili of the blessed memory, it is time for such war to be replicated in some of the other agencies with fraud tendencies.
Fraud according to Oxford Dictionary represents: A person or thing intended to deceive others, typically by unjustifiably claiming or being credited with accomplishments or qualities.
For this course, QUALITIES is the subject matter of this article and you are invited to erase any atom of sentiments, hypocrisy and sacrosanct by being objective in your judgement or better still in your opinion.
For the purpose of this piece, the search-light will be focusing on two of the many Regulatory Agencies and their roles in curbing these frauds.
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) and Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria (BON). The NCC has in many ways and means tried to assert the need for telecommunication companies both the Global System for Mobile (GSM) and the Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) providers to deliver quality services to their numerous clientele, this has been further illustrated by the imposition of various degree of fines to erring Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
From March 2012 to date, NCC has raked in about N1.664.5billion from sanctions based on Quality of Services (QoS) and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) from these MNOs, yet the quality of services issues in the telecommunications sector has not helped the matters. Stakeholders and operators argue that since the regulator started issues of fines, it has not addressed the real causes of the poor quality of services.
For the stakeholders who represent the majority of the Nigerian masses, the frauds repose on us. The numerous fines by NCC are hypothetical, and a true case of Robbing Peter to Pay Paul (RPTPP). These fines accrue from the N100, N200 and many more airtime being paid for by the masses of which the corresponding services were never nor satisfactorily delivered.
The only reason and how these numerous fines sanctioned on these NMOs would have been productive or meaningful to the stakeholders would have included an appropriate means of identifying the exact sum of money due to each subscriber based on the QoS and KPIs. Nigerians would have been happier or rather appreciative of the sanctions in the event that some succour accrues to their various lines since in this case they are the victims of this incorporated frauds.
Hence, it imperious for NCC to device appropriate ways of regulating these MNOs so as to deliver the desired quality services to millions of Nigerians. It is obvious that the RPTPP method has failed.
BON, as the regulatory agency for broadcasting, be it visual or audio, it should be in tune with what is obtainable in the world today, especially as regards the billing system of the Satellite Cable Networks. It is worthy to note that most countries in Africa enjoy the pay per view system of subscription as concern these networks.
The billions of naira been extorted from Nigeria via their prepaid system of subscription amounts to nothing but a calculated fraud on the populace. The Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs) and the pre-paid electricity metre are quite similar to these smart cards and obviously could be based on Pay as You View rather than what is obtained today. Though; Nigerians would not want to ignore the word SMART as used to describe these networks cards, and would also not want to assume that SMART as used represents the cleverness on the populace. These subscriptions have been smartly designed to continually run with or without the subscribers’ deriving value for their hard earn pay. The world today is a global village; hence these technologies used in other nations should not take decades for their introductions and implementations here.
The onus of these agencies remains to protect the masses and operators alike, hence; whatever the case may be, it is time these regulatory bodies brace up with the challenges of their agencies and save Nigerians from these unending frauds by these Fraud Incorporations.