Minister of Communications, Barr Adebayo Shittu, has appealed to telecoms operators to show some level of respect to Nigerians ,who wantsd to comply with the NCC directive on registration of SIMs in use.
Shittu, who thretened to deal with erring companies noted that veiled women are being treated shabbily at SIM registration centres.
In a statement by the Special Assistant on Media to the Minister, Victor Oluwadamilare, said there are barage of compliant by telecoms subscribers across the country, saying,.
“The Minister’s office had been inundated with complaints from Nigerians, particularly women in veil the way they were being treated, sometimes humiliated, by the workers of telecommunications companies nationwide. “Women in pudah dresses were required to remove their veil in public despite the requests by such women that a place should be provided out of public glare for only female officials to attend to them, adding that all entreaties fialed but rather they were allegedly acused of being Boko Haram agents and they were refused registration after several altercations that ensued in some of the registration centres.”
Shittu, who frowned at the development noted that the Nigerian Constitution has guaranteed the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion of all citizens and that such right can never be violated by executive or administrative lawlessness, highandedness and insensitivity.
The Minister also emphasised that Nigerians deserve unreserved apologies from the concerned telecoms companies, saying “It is inhuman and unacceptable to treat Nigerians in a cruel manner, as it is a universal maxim that the right of even minorities are respected worldwide”.
While urging telecommunications companies to train and re-train their workers on more civilized ways of treating their customers, adding that sanction may be applied against any erring company that refuse to comply with the policy of the Nigerian Government under the Change Agenda” of President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Minister, while lamenting the lackadaisical attitude of the affected companies in the treatment of their subscribers, blamed their conduct on the years of impunity under which they had operated without any serious checks.