Senate considers bill to establish nationwide toll-free number

The Nigerian Senate is considering a bill seeking to establish a uniform, toll-free national emergency number for citizens across the country aimed at strengthening the country’s emergency response architecture.

The proposed legislation is titled “A Bill for an Act to Establish the National Emergency Toll Service (NETS) to Provide Uniform, Accessible and Rapid Emergency Response Through a Dedicated Toll-Free Number Nationwide.

“This is to Empower the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as the regulator and for related matters, 2025 (SB 402)”.

Leading the debate on the second reading of the bill, the sponsor, Sen. Abdulaziz Yar’adua explained that the proposed law would harmonise Nigeria’s numerous emergency numbers into one easily memorable three-digit number.

This is such as 112, or an alternative agreed upon after the public hearing.

He noted that emergency numbers globally, such as 999 in the UK (introduced in 1937) and 911 in the United States (established in 1968), have saved countless lives by simplifying access to help in life-threatening situations.

India’s unified emergency number, he added, became operational in 2014.

However, he said, Nigeria currently operated multiple helplines across states for the police, fire service, ambulance services, domestic violence, child abuse, and disaster response agencies.

He added that Lagos alone had several toll-free emergency numbers linked to different agencies, a situation senators described as confusing and counterproductive during emergencies.

The bill, Yar’adua explained, would ensure that calls or text messages sent to the national emergency number automatically route to the nearest operational emergency response centre, leveraging the fact that nearly 90 per cent of Nigerians use mobile phones.

In his contribution, Sen. Ali Ndume (APC-Borno) described the bill as “timely, very important, and urgently needed.”

He emphasised that one of the biggest challenges contributing to Nigeria’s worsening insecurity was the lack of a coordinated and effective communication system between citizens and security agencies.

“If we do this, we will be enhancing our security architecture and contributing significantly to solving the criminalities affecting the country,” Ndume said, urging rapid passage and implementation.

Also supporting the bill, Sen. Tahir Monguno (APC-Borno) said unified communication channels were essential in a period marked by “grave security challenges across the country.”

He said that while security agencies consistently encourage citizens to report suspicious activities, the government must provide a simple, accessible and obstruction-free avenue for such reports.

“This bill gives muscular expression to the need for the general public to report what they see.

“A dedicated toll-free national line would eliminate barriers created by the current multiplicity of emergency numbers”

In his remarks, the Deputy Senate President, Jibrin Barau, who presided over the session, thanked the sponsor and contributors, commending the initiative as one that would “truly help the people of this country once implemented.”

The bill was thereafter referred to the Senate Committee on Communications for further legislative action to report back within four weeks.

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