Photograph — Eugenia Lin

Spoiler Alert – It had nothing to do with rice

If you are one of the millions of Nigerian mobile phone owners frustrated with telecommunication networks sending you unsolicited messages or placing unwanted calls to you, Anachim Innocent from Awka South in Anambra State (South-East Nigeria) has just spoken for you in the most impressive, and we hope, effective of ways.

Here’s how he did it.

In a recent recording that went viral across Whatsapp, Instagram, and other social media and microblogging sites, an Airtel customer, Mr Anachim Innocent, placed a call to the network’s customer care centre and after introducing himself, he asked the customer care representative where he could buy a cheap bag of rice. “In Awka here we are buying a bag of rice N23,000,” Mr Innocent explained. “(I want to know) where I can purchase a bag of rice for N15,000 or below.”

The Airtel customer care assistant was bewildered by Mr Innocent’s request. “Please, I would like to have you understand that this is Airtel’s customer service centre,” he said as he pleaded for the customer to reconfirm his request, which Mr Innocent did. “Alright please, I sincerely apologise sir. I wouldn’t know how that can be purchased,” the customer care assistant said. “However, you are kindly giving us a call at Airtel centre,” he added, to let the customer know he was calling the wrong place. And that was when Mr Innocent launched his full attack.

“Yeah, I know I am giving you a call. This call is disturbance to you guys abi? You guys will be calling me on phone, you will be calling me on phone every time. I can’t even have peace of mind using my own phone. Every second you will be calling me, you will be texting me one nonsense message. If you continue calling me, I will continue disturbing you guys. I intentionally called this number and (sic) asking you about a bag of rice, which is not supposed to be so. But you guys have been calling me all the time, you will be calling me with one useless number, 5577, telling me to subscribe what I am not interested.”

At the end of Mr Innocent’s tirade, the Airtel customer care representative was short of words to respond. All he could muster was, “Alright sir, please erm, kindly send out to 242,” to which Mr Innocent retorted, “I never bought this phone because of you guys o! Why will you be pestering my life with all these nonsense calls?” The customer care representative’s response was, “Please sir, kindly send out to 242.” At this point, Mr Innocent declared, “Please I will be sending your sim card out of my phone!… Thank you,” and hung up. He had just achieved the best demonstration of the frustration that many Nigerians feel from the barrage of unwanted calls and text messages of not just Airtel but also all other telcos in the country.

Mr Innocent’s rant also illustrates the general sense of helplessness that Nigerians feel about their inability to stop the excesses of these telecommunication companies; a blame which should be fully ascribed to the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC). Despite the mandate of the NCC to protect customers from exploitation, little has been done by the government agency to curb this an d several other cases of abuse by telcos. Mr Innocent’s stunt should serve as a wake-up call to both the telecommunication companies and the body charged with overseeing them that they must listen to and act on the complaints of their customers across the country.

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