In keeping with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 and NCC's distinctive tradition of robust stakeholder engagement on all issues, the Nigerian Communications Commission this morning held a consultative forum on Guidelines for the Use of Short Range Devices (SRDs) in line with international best practices.
At the event which took place in Lagos, Bako Wakil, an engineer and Deputy Director Technical Standards and Network Integrity at NCC, said what was presented to a wide spectrum of stakeholders today had earlier been presented to internal stakeholders at the Commission and their observations have been accommodated in the existing document. He then requested all participants to make input to the draft guidelines in order to enrich the quality of the final document.
Wakil informed the participants that their comments will be appraised and included in the document which will still be uploaded to Commission's website to enable more stakeholders and the general public make further inputs.
Consultant to the Commission, Geo-Control Engineering Services, whose CEO, Etubi Abraham, made the presentation, emphasised the need for all SRDs to meet type approval requirements set by NCC. He said the reason NCC convene the forum is the imperative to set regulatory frameworks that provide minimum standards and requirements which users and sellers of SRDs must comply with to ensure that their devices do not interfere with or disrupt communication from other devices. He amplified the voice of the Commission stating that by the provision of the proposed guidelines users of SRDs do not need to be licensed by the Commission but their equipment require type approval by the Commission before they can be sold or used in Nigeria.
Participants at the Forum made fair, frank and seminal contributions that will ultimately enrich the quality of the guidelines. Some of the SRDs include remote-controlled devices for cars, gates and other gadgets up to the ones used for toys, even for drones and many other equipment.