Grace Ashiru
The National Blood Service Commission (NBSC) has stated that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is willing and prepared to provide any assistance needed by the NBSC in order for it to carry out its mandate of regulating, coordinating, and ensuring “the provision of safe, quality blood and blood products” to all Nigerians who may require them.
The commitment was made recently when the Director General of the NBSC, Dr. Omale Amedu, led a delegation to the NCC on a courtesy visit. Usman Malah, the NCC’s Director of Human Capital and Administration (DHCA), led the NCC team to welcome the NBSC delegation on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta.
Amedu explained that the purpose of the visit was to inform NCC about the National Blood Service Commission’s (NBSC) mandate, which was established by the National Blood Service Commission Act of 2021 and aims to reduce the prevalence of blood-borne diseases, raise public awareness of blood safety and voluntary non-remunerated blood donation, mobilize a committed group of voluntary blood donors, and create a national strategic safe blood reserve.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has long designated June 14 as Blood Donor Day, but Nigeria has also declared December 8 to demonstrate commitment to developing a sufficient blood supply, taking into account the importance of blood to human survival and the prominence of blood and blood products among the resources used in the creation of cancer treatment medications.
The NBSC CEO emphasized that NBSC viewed NCC as a major MDA in Nigeria, which was why NBSC chose to visit NCC as part of NBSC’s efforts to raise awareness of the importance of routine blood donation among Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) and other stakeholders. Dr. Amedu praised NCC for its efforts to ensure better connectivity and outstanding contribution to the government’s plan for the digital economy as well as to the GDP (GDP).
In response, the DHCA commended Amedu and his team for their visit, their positive remarks about the NCC’s accomplishments, and the NBSC’s collaborative spirit, which, he added, was much in line with the NCC’s strategic objective focus on collaboration and partnership with stakeholders.
Malah claimed that the NCC staff members are altruistic and that many of them would gladly give blood on their own initiative. Additionally, he stated that Management will receive recommendations on the necessity of establishing a specific internal sensitization program in order to further investigate how to strengthen support for the NBSC and help it fulfill its mandate.
Regarding the request that NBSC had previously made to NCC to investigate using telecom platforms to disseminate information about NBSC activities, the DHCA stated that there are regulations governing the telecom sector and that the Commission would not want to violate such existing regulations, policies, and directions.
Malah suggested that NBSC get in touch with MNOs to discuss how the networks may be used to help the execution of its noble and essential to human survival mandate, which he described.
