The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is working to extend its collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to more sectors to identify recycled telephone numbers and numbers flagged for fraud, as part of efforts to prevent unauthorised access to customers’ accounts and digital services.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, disclosed this yesterday at the 95th Telecom Consumer Parliament held in Lagos.

Maida said the commission intended to expand the use of its Telecommunications Identity Risk Management System (TIRMS) to sectors where phone numbers are used to identify customers and conduct transactions.

“Building on our collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, we intend to extend its use across sectors where phone numbers are used to identify customers and carry out transactions,” he said.

He added that the system would help organisations identify recycled telephone numbers and those flagged for fraudulent activities.

“By helping organisations recognise recycled numbers and numbers flagged for fraud, TIRMS can reduce the risk of someone gaining access to another person’s accounts or services,” Maida said.

He explained that telephone numbers had become a critical part of digital identity, with consumers relying on them to access financial services, manage pensions and shop online.

Executive Director, Consumer Advocacy and Empowerment Foundation (CADEF), Prof. Chiso Ndukwe-Okafor, urged NCC to publish telecommunications service quality data at street and community levels to expose persistent network failures and help subscribers make informed choices.

Ndukwe-Okafor, who expressed concern that 36 per cent of subscriptions were still on 2G networks, said telecom operators should not rely solely on smartphone applications to provide customer support, warning that such approaches could exclude subscribers using older devices and networks.

She cited the case of an 87-year-old man whose calls reportedly dropped when he moved from one part of his bedroom to another, despite the problem persisting for two years, to illustrate how unresolved network failures affect consumers.

She also called for greater transparency in tariffs, data usage, automatic renewals and deductions, alongside clear timelines for reversing failed airtime and data transactions.

According to her, subscribers should not be forced to move between telecom operators, the NCC and other consumer protection agencies to resolve a single complaint.

She urged operators to issue timely outage notices, provide accessible complaint channels for persons with disabilities and consumers without smartphones, and ensure that cases marked as resolved result in actual remedies rather than administrative closure.

The Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management, NCC, Rimini Makama, called for practical commitments from telecommunications operators and other stakeholders to improve service quality, billing transparency and consumer protection in Nigeria’s digital economy.

Makama said reliable telecommunications services had become essential to the daily activities of Nigerians as the digital economy expanded.

She said the quality of telecom services directly affected small business owners awaiting payment confirmations, students attending online classes and families relying on telecommunications networks to stay connected.