Senate approves 112 as a national emergency call line .

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The Nigerian Senate has passed a bill seeking to establish the toll-free line 112 as the primary national emergency number in the country.

According to Premium Times, the passage of the Nationwide Toll-Free Emergency Number (Establishment) Bill, 2021, was a sequel to the consideration of a report by the Senate Committee on Communications.

The bill report was presented by Biodun Olujimi (Ekiti South) on behalf of the Chairman of the Committee, Oluremi Tinubu.

The bill seeks to establish a communication service that will be used to implement a nationwide system for the reporting of emergencies to emergency service agencies.

This bill will enable Nigerians access to emergency service agencies for quick and timely response to all forms of emergencies such as road accidents, fire outbreaks, burglary, medical emergencies, etc; as well as guarantee an efficient and effective emergency response system that will provide a single point of contact for assistance in any emergency.

During her presentation, Ms Olujimi also explained that the established Nationwide Emergency Communications Service will be charged with the responsibility of deploying coordinating of seamless and reliable end-to-end infrastructure for emergency needs.

According to her, part of the bill, she said, was amended to vest the Nigerian Communications Commission with the responsibility of formulating regulations and guidelines for the workings of the Nationwide Emergency Communications Service.

The legislation also frown at calling the emergency number on a false, frivolous or vexatious call and provided a clause stating penalty for violators.

The bill prescribes that persons who violate provisions of the legislation is guilty of an offence and is liable on summary conviction to a penalty of not more than N50,000 or in default to term imprisonment not exceeding six months.

And for each subsequent offence is liable on summary conviction to a fine of not more than N250,000 or, in default, to a term of imprisonment not exceeding one year.

It also states that a person shall be issued a recorded voice warning in the first to third instances. And subsequent violations shall attract blacklisting from making 112 CALLS for a period, not more than eight weeks.

“Any further violation shall attract a summary conviction to a penalty of not more than N50,000 or In default to a term of imprisonment not exceeding six months.

“Upon conviction, the court may in addition to the fine or imprisonment, order the blacklisting of an offender,” parts of the bill read.

The legislation will be sent to the House of Representatives for concurrence and thereafter transmitted to the president for assent.