 And this is the breakfast in Plos TV Africa. Let's look at our second conversation. Look, short codes is a focus this morning. However, Nigeria is moving towards harmonising all short codes to uniform numbers across the telecommunication operators from May the 17th. Now, throughout the Nigerian Communications Commission, in the next two months, telecoms like MTN, Airtel, Nightmobile and Globalcom among others may begin to use one singular code for specific transaction. This means Nigerians who want to recharge their mobile phones check their credit balance for airtime or data and all the services will do this for a uniform number irrespective of the network service provider. This appears to be the second phase of telecom industry harmonisation after the NCC introduced the mobile number portability feature 10 years ago in April 2013. Now, joining us to look at this and the implication is Okuno Abdullahi. It's good to have you join us. Good morning. Hey, good morning. Glad to be here with you. Yes. Okuno, I'd like to ask you, what are your thoughts about this development, the harmonisation of codes? Okay, thank you so much. I think the harmonisation is a welcome development considering the fact that in this country of ours, you realise that hardly would you get to see an individual having just one network. You know, you see a lot of people using more than one telecommunication, what do you call it, numbers, you know, while you, even as a matter of fact, have come across people that have all the networks, you understand? So people, for certain people like that, to be a welcome development rather than for them to always be racking their brain over what is the short code to be used for one network or the other. I remember an incident like that, as a matter of fact, you actually have to my wife and myself, you know, every now and then when she wants to, she was so used to one particular network because she has another one. So anytime she wants to use the other one, she will always call me and ask me, darling, what's the short code for this particular service on this particular network? And unfortunately for her, I do not use that particular network, she is always bothering me about. So what we usually do is to always go to a net, to search for what the code is, you know, but in a serious way, you have uniformity in all the short codes, irrespective of the network we are using. I think it's a very good development, which must be embraced by all. All right, Okonu, I'm seeing that the proposed harmonized short codes are things like call center, help desk, voicemail deposit, voicemail retrieval, you know, borough services, stop services, check balance, credit recharge, data plan, you know, and other services, verification, same verification, irony. But are these enough, you know, because you talked about memorizing all these things, are these enough, you know, the other things that each network offers that are important, you know, should we be looking at maybe bringing more into these the short code idea? We also have even the banks, you know, loading credit and using your bank, which is the most important one doing transfers to the U.S.S.D. So is it, is it, do we have more things you can bring into this, or these are the major ones that we should get? Secondly, we've seen that with the forceful move of Nigerians into, you know, cashless transactions, especially with the websites of the banks, internet banking, mobile banking as well with the U.S.S. is that the seems like the volume of transactions is weighed down on the network, you know, of the banks, you know, sometimes you see U.S.S. you have a bank, it's not going through, it's not working, the app is not working, the websites. So if everybody is now focused on a particular short code, will we not have this overcrowding of sorts, if for want of a better word? Okay, thank you so much. Let me start with the first question you asked. When I actually saw this news item, I went through and I saw several numbers do some, I mean, this look, they look to be in sequence. By that, I'm trying to say that we have a 300 for call center, 301 for voice mail deposits, 302 for voice mail and the likes like that. So do they, they are in sequence, but for me, as an individual, to very likely say, I want to believe that this number is too, they are too many. They are too many. That's the way I personally is looking at it. They are too many. I'm looking at the situation whereby we have just one. For instance, like emergency airplane, in the, in legacy, for example, you have just seven, three, seven, the one on two. So you're expecting for whatever your complaint is, you know, you get, what do you call it? You always get somebody responding to you and a right person will respond and they try to attend to whatever your need is. Simple writing is what I'm expecting of this. While we are immunizing fine, it is a welcome development, like I said earlier, but at the same time, we should go for that. Then bring in the number of numbers for like though, like they tried to explain for specific services, but back now we stand in, we can have a three-way bike, you have maximum, oh yes, say two different short codes. One, you know, once you have a the short code, you dial it. So whatever transaction you want to do, we can easily scroll up. I mean, scroll down, look at the interface, your phone to get to find where exactly you want to do. If it is to transfer money, we go ahead and do it. If it is to recharge your phone, your data and the lights like that, we go ahead and do it. Rather than for us to be having all this, this each number, you understand? So because what we are trying to run away from, eventually we will still run into the same problem. And that is how easy people easily can easily assess these numbers. So that's for me, I want to further urge the NCC to go further to streamline these numbers. They are too many for me. They are too many. Then you talked about the jam packing of these facilities whereby you are using short codes and they are not functioning the way they should. If they harmonize with the problem not persist, I really don't see it as such, actually. You know, what really led to this one is that the service providers before now, they were not the rush this time around as a result of the cashless redesign policy that is on now. They never expected such, such they were not prepared for it. But in the situation whereby we are now streamlined, we are trying to make uniform short codes for all telecommunications, what do you call it? Network providers. I think they will increase their capacity and they will not have any such problem. And apart from that also is the fact that if you are using one of the service providers network, that means all subscribers on that particular network are the ones, I mean, the telecommunication operator on that particular network is the one that will cater for all its subscribers. So unlike what is going on presently, you know, majority of some of these banks and their abs, we get to realize that some network providers, I mean, they are more, subscribers are more on a particular bank compared to others. That's where you get to see that some of these problems are more peculiar to certain banks, you know, compared to others. So for me, this particular experience we save as a learning curve for them and for them to know, which I want to believe that yes, they have realized it as well, that they need to increase their capacity and also for the banks as well to increase the capacity of their app, they should help them again. Well, we do have breaking news that a loaded Lagos State Government staff has been involved in a collision with a trainer, the PWD bypass in the area of Ikejira, rescue workers, according to the reporter on the scene, to help the injured. Now several passengers have feared dead following the impact of that collision. It's also been advised that you should probably, if you can hear us now, try to avoid that area, because it's a high possibility of traffic in this axis. And then of course, quite unfortunate and very saddening, our hats and prayers are with those who have lost their lives would definitely bring you more update, especially on our bulletin. But we get back to the crux of that. I think that is a BRT bus actually, not a staff bus. Well, according to the report that we got, the collision is between a bus, the Lagos State Government bus and a BRT, it is a collision. So it's not just, it didn't happen on its own. Yeah, it seems to be between a BRT bus and a train. All right then, so we'll just continue with the conversation. Just like we've said, we'll just bring you more update as we proceed, you know, with this conversation, especially on our bulletin that will shortly come after this part of the show. But Abdulahi, I'd like to ask you with the codes, can you hear me? Yes, I can hear you go. The harmonization of these codes, do you think that it would yield to effectiveness and efficiency? Yes, I believe so. I believe so. Abdulahi, we can hear you. Hello. Yeah, please go on, we can hear you, Abdulahi. Okay, okay, thank you so much. So like I was saying, it's definitely going to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the services being rendered. You know, like I am more particular about the subscribers, like I said earlier, a lot of people racked their brain over what these codes were, somebody that is using more than one network, you know, the battle to get to use all these short codes. But in a case whereby we have them harmonized the way it is being proposed now, I think for the subscribers, it is a very welcome development. And at the same time, we should also challenge the service providers to increase their capacity to be able to serve their subscribers very well. So obviously, it will lead to increased efficiency, I believe so. All right, what are all the innovations you think the authorities, the NCC and the telco should embark on, you know, to make things easier for Nigerians as far as telecommunications is concerned, because I mean, of course, it's been a while since, you know, the benefits of per second billing came to be. Of course, it wasn't a government policy. It was a policy of one of the companies and the others had to adopt it. So what innovations do you think can be introduced to ensure that Nigerians enjoy, you know, the use of the mobile phone? I mean, these days, we have artificial intelligence, we have 5G coming in. Are we ready for all these developments around the world? So what do you think we need to, what's the next stage we need to get to? I mean, this innovation is good, we are improving, we are bringing harmonization. But the other things you think can be introduced to make it a more enjoyable experience for Nigerians as far as mobile telephony is concerned. Okay, thank you so much. I want to look at it from the perspective of the customers, subscribers. One of the things, while you were asking that question, the first thing that came to my mind has to do with the data description. You know, the data subscription, you tell you, for example, you have a limited package and within a month you have exhausted your, what do you call it, your data and you ask yourself, well, you told me this is unlimited and you start speaking grammar to you. So this aspect, I won't say NCC to look into this direction. Then apart from that also, whereby I, for example, subscribe irrespective of the number of months, it should be actually limitless. There shouldn't be a cap to when I must exhaust my data. Just like your, what's the code now? You recharging your phone, you have a certain amount of credit on your line. If you decide, you may decide rather not to use it to make an account whatsoever for a very long time. You understand? Your money will still be there. The same thing should be applicable to data as well. You understand? I want NCC to look into this. This will make Nigeria say, be more appreciative of their work. They are doing well. Don't worry about that. But if they can consider this, I think it will go a long way in putting smiles into the faces of Nigeria. Then I'm not that important as a comrade, as a trade unionist. I want the NCC though they may want to say that it is not really within their purview. But I want them to go further than looking at this as fibres, but also focus, I mean, sorry, telecoms operators, but also to try to focus on the workers that are performing the job that are making these services available to Nigerians. The workers are suffering within this sector. And then we, as a union, we have been trying to see how we will moderate the sufferings of these workers within the sector. But when the agencies of government, like NCC, for example, look into this direction, I think it will also bring the Thank you so much. Yeah. Okay. Very quickly. So because of time, very quickly, very quickly, mobile money is innovation that technology that has been introduced in Nigeria for years. But a lot of Nigerians don't know about mobile money. What happens is you take your mobile phone and that mobile number of yours is an account, it's a wallet. Anyone can send money to you on your mobile number. It's been introduced for years and Nigerians haven't adopted it, the adaptation has been really poor or penetration acceptability. Why do you think that is the case? Because some are saying, well, with this, these challenges right now with the cash crunch and everything, it is an avenue for Nigerians to be easily transacted business, you know, if you don't have a bank account. Why do you think it's failed to take off in the country? I must say, but if the number of people that are bragging it is still very low, then what I feel should be done is for more sensitization to be done, they need to publicize it as much as possible. Because if you don't, like they say, knowledge is par. If what you don't know, you don't know it. So if people are not aware of the importance of this mobile money, of course they will not embrace it. You know, people are so much fixated about all these conventional banks, you know, and they believe that until they go in and out of bank, buy the ATM and the likes like that before they can assess their money or get the transaction done. So the same way you publicize all these conventional banks as well, if you publicize this as much as possible, a lot of people also embrace it. We have to go now. Thank you. Thank you so much, Kanua Abdelahi for being part of the show this morning. We appreciate your thoughts sincerely and we look forward to having you speak on issues like this. And that's the size of our package. Merci. It was a privilege doing this with you and of course tomorrow we'll be back here. It's also a privilege having a viewers join us this morning right here on the breakfast. Please follow us on social media, plus TV Africa, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube, two channels plus TV Africa and plus TV Africa lifestyle. My name is Messi Boko. And my name is Kofi Bartels. Thanks for joining us. And Messi and I will have some hot, more hot tea whilst we prepare for the rest of our day. Have a nice day.