About 2.2million improperly-registered SIM cards have been deactivated by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Commission’s Executive Vice Chairman, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, has said.
Danbatta, who disclosed this at the weekend in Abuja, said the deactivation of anonymous SIM cards was in line with one of the key agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari to strengthen security of lives and property of all Nigerians.
“By our records, all improperly-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards across Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Nigeria have been completely deactivated,” he said.
The EVC said the NCC had tenaciously worked with determination and through various policy initiatives, to rid mobile networks of invalidly-registered SIM cards.
This is to ensure that all the current over 180 million SIM cards owners across telecom operators’ networks have valid data that are traceable and not anonymous, he added.
“Our efforts received a boost, following the implementation of a September 12, 2019 ministerial directive that the NCC should compel service providers to block all improperly-registered SIM cards, pending when their owners regularise their registration,” Danbatta said.
Following the directive, however, the NCC, within a week, intensified efforts by reducing the number of improperly-registered SIM cards from 9.2 million to 2.2 million, the NCC boss said.
“We have since initiated the second phase of SIM deactivation based on the Ministerial directive and as at today, we have completely deactivated the remaining 2.2 million lines on the networks.
“This is contrary to reports by a section of the media, suggesting that nothing has been done with respect to the issue of improperly-registered SIM cards,” he said.
