NCC inaugurates committee to register Sim Cards E-mail
Written by Laide Akinboade
Friday, 18 July 2008

The move to nip criminal activities committed with the use of mobile phones recorded a major boost in Abuja yesterday when the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, the Nigerian security and intelligence agencies, and major telecom operators reached a consensus for immediate implementation of a nationwide registration of all existing and prospective prepaid mobile phone services.

The consensus was reached during a consultative forum hosted by the NCC, for the operators; at the behest of the security agencies who have complained to the Commission that criminal activities perpetrated through this category of users have become a source of concern as disclosure of identities of the users are not required during the purchase of the lines.

The Executive Vice-Chairman of the Commission, Ernest Ndukwe, who, yesterday in Abuja, inaugurated a committee that will look into the modalities that will be used in the registration of Sim cards, said such documentation will help the security agencies to track down criminals who use mobile phones to perpetrate evil.

The NCC boss stated that deadline would be given to GSM operators to ensure the registration of personal details of both old and new subscribers and that all unregistered prepaid cards may be deactivated after the deadline of registration.

According to him, security agents have complained to NCC in the past about the difficulty they have in tracking criminals who use Mobile phones to perpetrate crimes.

Engr. Ndukwe admitted that one of the challenges that will affect the project is the non-existence of national identification for majority of Nigerian populace.

“The commission has been deliberating on this issue for sometime and additionally we have received complaints from security agencies expressing growing concern about the use of mobile phones to commit crimes and the difficulty in tracking down the perpetrators who take advantage of unregistered Sim Card especially for prepaid consumers.”

He noted that in view of the fact that there are over 50million sim cards currently in circulation in Nigeria, the commission intends to collaborate with all network operators who issue Sim cards to subscribers and promised that the modalities will be vital and at the same time simple.

He observed, “Sim card is an area of security concern. Criminals exploit the anonymity of prepaid Sim cards to avoid detection. This project will be a catalyst for the development of a credible database. If properly managed and administered, the database will be a veritable source of information not only for the sector but also for the business and financial sector of the economy of the economy.”

He cited some countries that already have sim cards registers, such as, Australia, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Switzerland and South Africa.

Membership of the committee include representatives of MTN, CELTEL, MTEL, GLO, Intercellular, Reltel, Starcomms, NCC, the media, Independent National Electoral Commission, National Population Commission, security agencies, and SIM card suppliers.

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Its a pity that each time our govt. agencies fail in their duties, they resort to adding more hardship to Nigerians. I remember at one time Police said they wanted to track vehicles. They introduced their so-called electronic computer registration of vehicles ECMR. That is apart from the normal registration of vehicles which involves obtaining an undefined number of papers, (It depends on the state you are, the police you meet at a check point and your knowledge of your rights). After two or three years, Police abandoned the ECMR project!

The same goes for numerous other registrations in this country. Notably the National ID card project. What came of it? Though some people were able to obtain theirs, millions are still searching for theirs. If you registered in Abia state, maybe your friend in Benin, will be the one to bring your ID for you, after finding it carelessly dumped somewhere there. And how authentic is the information on a National ID card?

NCC that cannot control the quality of service of the GSM operators is now being blackmailed to register SIM cards. Pls Engr. Ndukwe, the only thing a Nigerian can claim to be enjoying today is GSM. NEPA - Bleep up, Police - aiding & abetting. I even wonder whether there is any Intelligence training for Nigerian Police. Apart from N20 collection on the road, which seems to be their notable function, they cannot intelligently trace a crime. All they do is "arrest all of them". A person commits a crime in kano, police comes to Kaduna to arrest the father, the mother and all others that are in the house on that day. Is that intelligent work? Now EFCC wants to follow suit with their so-called sophistication.

Please face those that are stealing millions everyday and forget the small fries like free browsers. Or make browsing affordable for Nigerians. I was browsing with Glo and after downloading Yahoo homepage, i checked my account. About N70 had gone. I have not even checked my mail! How can i afford to browse like that?