In furtherance of its resolve to tackle the menace of pre-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards in the country, the federal government has directed all the telecom operators in the country to demand the National Identity Number (NIN) of their customers within two weeks (December 16-30, 2020).
During a meeting of key stakeholders in the Communications industry held on December 14, 2020, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, directed all network operators to disconnect any SIM card that is not synchronised with valid NIN by December 30, 2020.
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Other decisions taken by stakeholders at the meeting include affirming the earlier directive to totally suspend the registration of New SIMs by all operators. All telecom operators must, from Thursday, December 16, 2020, require all their subscribers to provide valid National Identification Number (NIN) to update SIM registration records; and after the deadline, block all SIMs without NIN. It was also agreed that violations of this directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license.
It would be recalled that the minister had in September last year directed NCC to block all SIM cards not properly registered until they were fully registered. In March 2020, the number of improperly-registered SIM cards had dropped from 9.2 million to 2.2 million. Due to rising insecurity in the country, Minister Pantami again directed NCC last week to suspend activation of new SIM cards. This, he said, was not only to allow an audit of the Subscriber Registration database but also to verify and ensure compliance by Mobile Network Operators (MNO) with the set quality standards and requirements as issued by the ministry and the commission.
Unlimited access to pre-registered SIM cards have always aided criminals to perpetrate and get away with their acts of kidnapping, banditry, armed robbery and terrorism. In recent weeks, cases of kidnapping, banditry, and insurgency heightened in parts of the country. Recent cases include the Zabarmari massacre in Borno State where over 40 farmers had their throat slit and the abduction of hundreds of schoolboys from Government Science Secondary School, Kankara, in Katsina State.
While subscribers who had NIN may only be required to update their SIM registration, others who do not have NIN would be required to first obtain it before updating their SIM registration; splitting the exercise into two stages for the latter group. The first group consists of Nigerians who are residents of urban towns and cities where access to NIN is easy. On the other hand, the majority of mobile network subscribers in rural communities, in their huge numbers, are without NIN. Following the announcement of the deadline for updating SIM registration, applicants are reportedly being extorted at NIMC registration centres across the country. There are complaints of racketeering as enrolment forms are allegedly being sold to applicants who are also asked to pay for the fuel used in running generators at various NIN registration centres. Aside from checking the alleged forms of corruption, there’s need for NIMC not only to scale up its capacity but also to ensure that there are enough licenced enrolment agents to cope with the large number of applicants that would require NIN before updating their SIM registration.
Besides the huge statistics of Nigerians without NIN, there are other critical factors that make the deadline for SIM registration unrealistic. The two-week period of SIM registration fails to take into account the second wave of COVID-19 which requires compliance with safety protocols including social distancing; limiting and slowing down the process of registration. The period also coincides with Christmas for which some days of the week would be declared public holidays. Enough publicity is also required to sensitise subscribers in rural areas on the exercise to forestall millions of SIM cards from being disconnected after the deadline. Daily Trust supports the House of Representatives’ recommendation of extending the deadline to 10 weeks. We should not create more problems by attempting to solve one.
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