The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has charged youth corps members in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to champion enlightenment campaigns on data usage and depletion.
NCC Director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, Mrs. Freda Ruth Bruce-Bennett, recently gave the charge at the NYSC Orientation Camp Sensitisation Programme, both in Nasarawa and Niger states.
The telecoms regulatory agency urged youth corps members, as key agents of change, to be data usage campaign champions, being educated, mobile and socially connected Nigerians.
The Commission added that youth corps members should help to spread the awareness of consumer rights and protections to friends, family, and local communities.
Youth corps members were also charged to educate others about the NCC’s initiatives and how and how to enjoy better quality of data experience.
They were urged to engage with NCC by reporting challenges, sharing feedback, and helping the Commission to serve them and consumers better.
Mrs Brunet-Bennett said NCC was particularly honoured to engage with youth corps members, as dynamic, educated, and patriotic young Nigerians, in its continuing commitment to empower telecoms consumers and protect their interests in a rapidly evolving digital environment.
“Let me begin by acknowledging the NYSC for its unwavering dedication to national unity, capacity development, and social cohesion.
“The mission of the NYSC and that of the NCC align in many ways — both institutions are focused on nation-building, inclusive growth, and creating platforms where every Nigerian can thrive. We are therefore partners in progress,” she said.
The NCC Director stated that the sensitisation was part of the strategic consumer outreach of the Commission.
She said the theme, “Consumer Sensitisation on Data Depletion: The Role of National Youth Service Corps Members,” was germane, following increasing number of complaints received on data issues.
“The issue of data depletion continues to resonate and draws concerns amongst consumers in view of some developments in the Nigeria communication industry.
“The number of internet subscriptions has grown from 105m in August 2018 to 142m in January 2025. (Current Industry Statistics, www.ncc.gov.ng).
“This growth is fueled by the increasing popularity and usage of social media, other online content, and the wider availability of data networks.
“In a digital age where data fuels everything from communication to education, business to social interaction protecting consumers from exploitative practices and ensuring digital literacy is not important; it is essential.
“Additionally, rapid advancements in technology have led to new features on smartphones that many consumers may not fully understand.
“This knowledge gap often results in unintentionally high data consumption, which can frustrate users and erode trust.
“Consumer perception of rapid data depletion remains a major pain point and continues to affect Quality of Experience (QoE) as well as overall consumer satisfaction in the telecoms industry,” she added.
She said the concerns were further underscored by a consumer survey recently conducted by an independent an non-profit media organisation.
According to her, the consumer survey was conducted to highlight the scale of public concern over unexplained data depletion and billing transparency.
She said NCC championed a study on the issue, noting that it has also taken proactive steps by conducting consumer education and sensitisation campaigns to promote data usage transparency initiatives.
Other essences of the sensitisation campaigns, she added, were to enforce transparency initiatives, and fair usage policies, and ongoing engagement with service providers to enhance the overall Quality of Experience in the industry.
“These efforts are directly tied to the broader goal of promoting effective Data management.
“It is important that telecom subscribers are equipped with the knowledge of how to monitor, control, and optimise the usage of their mobile data bundle allowance, be it daily, weekly, or monthly plans.
“It is noteworthy that several factors can affect the rate at which data is used up or consumed by a subscriber,” she added.
Some factors that can lead to excessive data usage, Mrs Bruce-Bennett said, included:
Streaming activities such as video and music streaming apps like Netflix, YouTube, and Spotify which use large amounts of data;
Social media activities which include high-resolution images and videos on platforms like Instagram, Facebook (Meta), and Twitter (X) and can quickly use up data;
App updates and automatic updates with Apps which consume data in the background without being active, and use significant amounts of data, while automatic app updates can spike data usage;
Continuous use of GPS and navigation apps for location services which can lead to increased data usage.
Usage of hotspot to share phone’s data connection with other devices or users which can quickly use up data allowance;
Using data to roam while traveling abroad which can lead to excessive data usage due to higher roaming charges;
And browsing habit by frequent visits to data-intensive websites like those with videos or high-resolution images which can use up data quickly.
NCC offered some smart data management tips to control data consumption on the phone, including:
Monitoring of data usage by regularly checking data usage, using built-in trackers or third-party app; connecting to Wi-Fi whenever possible to conserve cellular data;
Turning off and disabling of automatic for apps and software and updating manually when on Wi-Fi;
Restrict and limiting background background data usage for specific apps; downloading of media content, while on Wi-Fi for offline use;
Data caching by frequently storing accessed data locally (offline) to reduce the need for repeated downloads;
Disabling of location services, by turning off GPS and location services for specific apps or altogether; turning on of data-saving mode on phone to reduce consumption and data rollover by transferring unused data to the next billing cycle or month.
To find out more about smart data management, NCC urged consumers to visit consumer.ncc.gov.ng.
Recall that, on 7 August, 2025, NCC officials were at the Magaji Dan-Yamusa Permanent Orientation Camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Keffi, Nasarawa State.
On the same day, the NCC was represented by its officials at the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp in Paiko, Niger State, essentially to sensitise corps members on telecoms issues.
Apart from the sensitisation, the Commission also engaged the youth corps members in quiz competitions on the two camps, with winners of the quiz questions going away gift items such as power banks, airtime and data subscriptions.
Also, NCC donated three bags of rice (50kg) and three 25-liter of vegetable cooking oil, each to the two NYSC camps in Nasarawa and Niger states.
The NYSC State Coordinators in the two states, Hajiya Salamatu Mohammed and Mrs. Martina Shuaibu-Ibrahim, respectively, received the support items from the officials of the Commission.
