Media personality and entrepreneur Noble Igwe has stirred fresh debate over Nigeria’s 112 emergency number after defending it following its failure to connect during a live television demonstration.
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The controversy began on Channels Television’s Politics Today, when Alwan Hassan, a spokesperson for the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council, urged anchor Seun Okinbaloye to call 112 on air and demonstrate that Nigerians could obtain emergency assistance through the line.
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Hassan presented 112 as a major achievement of the APC-led federal government, comparing it with the United States’ 911 system and saying callers could reach responders for health, security, distress and other emergencies
“Take your phone and call 112. Nobody knows about this; we used to hear it in America: 911,” Hassan said during the programme. “Call 112. Now put it on speaker, and they’ll ask you what your emergency is, either health, security, distress call, whatever.”
But when Okinbaloye dialled the number repeatedly during the broadcast, the call did not connect. The anchor later said other calls made from the same location had gone through, while Hassan maintained that the service was functional and blamed a possible network problem
Okinbaloye then asked viewers to test the number and report their experiences. He later said he had received several messages from viewers claiming that 112 also failed to connect for them.
Igwe’s defence
Reacting on X, Igwe criticised Nigerians who concluded from the televised failure that the emergency service was unreliable.
“Nigerians are behaving like they know it all, 112 is ONLY active in an emergency situation and that was no emergency,” he wrote. “The fact that it failed on National TV does not mean that it will fail you, it may not connect in the first few days.”
Igwe argued that a failed demonstration on national television did not necessarily prove that the line would be unavailable when Nigerians faced a genuine emergency. His comments triggered mixed reactions online, with supporters saying the public should not judge the service from one live test, while critics questioned why an emergency line should fail during a demonstration.
What 112 is meant to do
Nigeria’s 112 is a toll-free emergency number intended to connect callers with Emergency Communications Centres, which are expected to route distress calls to the appropriate response agency. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says the centres are designed to link callers with services including the police, Federal Road Safety Corps, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, fire, ambulance and emergency-management agencies.
The NCC describes 112 as available around the clock, seven days a week, and says telecom operators are required to route emergency calls from each state to the emergency centre within that state.ncc.gov+1
In July 2026, the National Economic Council approved the adoption of 112 as Nigeria’s single universal emergency number across federal, state and relevant agencies.
Why the failed test matters
The incident has become more than a viral television moment because 112 is promoted as a lifeline for Nigerians facing robbery, accidents, fire outbreaks, medical emergencies and other urgent dangers. A live failure risks undermining public confidence in a service whose usefulness depends on people being able to reach it quickly.ncc.gov+1
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