The National Campaign Council of the Nigeria Democratic Congress has described the failure of Nigeria\u2019s 112 emergency number during a live television demonstration as a \u201cnational embarrassment\u201d, accusing the federal government of failing to provide reliable public services.\n<\/p>\n
The council said the incident exposed the state of the country\u2019s emergency response infrastructure and raised questions about the government\u2019s preparedness to protect citizens.\n<\/p>\n
Its spokesperson, Chiogo Ikokwu, stated this in a statement issued on Wednesday in reaction to the failed demonstration of the line during the appearance of an All Progressives Congress chieftain, Alwan Hassan, on Channels Television\u2019s Politics Today programme.\n<\/p>\n
Hassan, a member of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, had challenged the programme\u2019s presenter, Seun Okinbaloye, to dial 112 to demonstrate that the emergency number was operational.<\/p>\n
However, the call failed to connect, prompting Hassan to suggest that the problem could be caused by network issues.\n<\/p>\n
Reacting, the NDC described the incident as an example of what it called the failure of the APC-led government.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe failed attempt by President Bola Tinubu\u2019s Campaign Spokesperson, Mallam Alwan Hassan, to demonstrate the functionality of Nigeria\u2019s 112 emergency line on national television was nothing short of a national embarrassment,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
The council said the incident raised serious questions about the state of Nigeria\u2019s emergency response infrastructure, arguing that citizens needed a functional system to access help during accidents, violent attacks and medical emergencies.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGiving an excuse that the line did not work because of \u2018network issues\u2019 does not cut it at all,\u201d it reads further in parts.\n<\/p>\n
The NDC said the incident was not an isolated failure, citing insecurity, poorly equipped hospitals, unreliable public infrastructure, failing institutions and the rising cost of living as other challenges facing Nigerians. <\/p>\n
It also accused the government of being more concerned about defending its record than addressing the problems confronting citizens.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat makes this particularly troubling is the government\u2019s apparent obsession with defending its record rather than fixing the problems. Public resources, government machinery and official platforms should be deployed to deliver results, not manufacture positive headlines,\u201d the statement said.\n<\/p>\n
The council added, \u201cGovernance is not about what government spokespersons say on television, it is about what ordinary Nigerians experience when they need their government most.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
The statement added that Nigerians deserved functional institutions and reliable public services, particularly in emergencies.<\/p>\n
The controversy followed Tuesday\u2019s television demonstration, during which Okinbaloye reported that his call to 112 was not connecting.\n<\/p>\n
PUNCH Online also reported that a call by its correspondent to the number failed to connect, although an X user reported that a call went through in Umuahia, Abia State.\n<\/p>\n
The different experiences raised questions about the consistency of the service across locations.\n<\/p>\n
Hassan had said the emergency communication centres were expected to receive calls and contact relevant responders, including ambulance services and the police.\n<\/p>\n
He also said the Abuja centre was ready but that Tinubu had directed that it should not be launched until centres across the country were aligned. He expected the process to be completed by March 2027.\n<\/p>\n
When Okinbaloye suggested that the emergency number might be among the administration\u2019s promises that were not yet fully functional, Hassan said, \u201cWe\u2019ll fulfil them. We\u2019ll fulfil them with time. This is why we\u2019re asking for more time.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Source: <\/p>\n
The National Campaign Council of the Nigeria Democratic Congress has described the failure of Nigeria\u2019s 112 emergency number during a live television demonstration as a \u201cnational embarrassment\u201d, accusing the federal… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15232\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnigerianews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}