The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday urged the National Assembly to give urgent consideration in passing the ‘Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill’ into law.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, gave the advice in a statement issued in Lagos.

It said that passing the bill into law would give more legal teeth in the prosecution of telecoms infrastructure vandals.

The statement added that the Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill, when passed into law would enable the protection of telecoms infrastructure, for the benefit of the consumers.

It said that under the existing laws of the country, vandalising of telecoms infrastructure carried heavy penalties, including a jail term, if found culpable.

According to the statement, the commission is currently consulting with the lawmakers to finalise on the bill, which seeks to treat all telecoms infrastructure as public properties that should be protected.

It said that the benefits and all the useful services being enjoyed from the telecoms industry were now threatened by the spate of vandalising of the infrastructure across the country.

The statement added that the regulatory body was worried that vandalising of telecoms infrastructure was slowing the pace of growth, and contributing to poor quality of services.

“Fellow citizens should be part of the war against vandalising telecoms infrastructure. We need to be more vigilant. We need to report any form of vandalising to security agencies.

“On our part as the regulator of the telecoms industry, it is our desire to make Nigeria better, using telecommunications services.

“It is our desire to improve on the varieties and quality of services that Nigerians are getting from the telecoms industry.

“It is our continued desire that telecoms services are available to Nigerians, wherever they may live, be it in the city, or in sub-urban or rural areas.” (NAN)

•Photo shows Prof. Danbatta.