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NCC and the Press |
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The Nigerian Communications Commission has reiterated that there is no known conclusive scientific evidence at present to indicate that radiation from telecommunication masts or handsets could cause such dangerous diseases as cancer among humans. The Executive Commissioner, Licensing and Consumer Affairs, Dr Bashir Gwandu, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman at the 29th session of the Telecom Consumer Parliament held in Maiduguri on May 2, 2006, made the clarification in response to a complaint by Professor A. B. Anaso of the University of Maiduguri over the noise pollution he suffers from the generator powering a mast near his bedroom. Dr Gwandu assured Professor Anaso that personnel of the Commission would visit his residence to assess the proximity of his bedroom to the mast, and if it is determined to be too close, direct the owner of the mast to relocate it, otherwise just ask the owner to substitute the generator with a sound proof model. At no time during the session of the consumer parliament in Maiduguri did Dr Gwandu state, as reported in the back page of ‘The Guardian’ of Thursday, May 4, 2006, that masts pose health hazards to people residing close to them. Dr Gwandu also neither said, as claimed in the report, that the Commission has given telecom operators six months to relocate all residents living within the radius of 75 per cent of the heights of their masts, nor did he mention any area in Borno and Yobe States as identified cases. The monthly Telecom Consumer Parliament, which was initiated in 2003 by the Executive Vice Chairman, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe, has achieved a great deal of mileage in resolving consumer issues in the telecom sector. The sessions are rotated among the various geo-political zones of the country and recorded for broadcast on national television.
DAVE IMOKO |