The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim
Pantami says the recent verification of 9.4 million Sim cards revealed
that one person with 57 registered Sim cards in one network.
The
minister made this known on Thursday while receiving the new Chairman
of the board, Prof. Adeolu Akande (South West) and a non executive
Commissioner, Chief Uche Nwude (South East) in his office, Abuja.
He stated that this was made known to him in a report by the Nigerian Communications commission, NCC.
Recall
that the Minister had in September last year ordered the Nigerian
Communications Commission to immediate review the registration of about
9.4million Sim cards across the country suspected to be improperly
registered.
The order came against the backdrop of increasing
spate of kidnapping and other forms of crime in the country after which
the Commission swung into action.
Pantami, who challenged the board to brace up for the challenges ahead, told the board that ‘there is no time for honey moon.’
The
Minister who while reeling out the achievements recorded during the
review exercise charged the board to consolidate on the achievements,
noting that some of the Sim cards were partially completed while others
were pre-registered.
‘‘After that the President has directed me and the security agencies to consolidate on that achievement.
Part of what you must address is to ensure that Nigerians do not have difficulties in Sim registration.
In
the document, we said a person can own three Sim cards. Look at it and
find out if the number should be retained or increased.
‘‘From
information available to me, one Nigerian registered 57 sim cards in
same network. There is justification for a company but this cannot be
acceptable. For me, Number is key in security management. If you must
increase the number, there must be conditions and a level of
flexibility.’’
Pantami however, charged the board to ensure that
Sim registration is linked to national ID so that all our sim cards will
be linked up with our digital ID.
‘‘Also ensure that Sim
registration is linked to national ID so that all our sim cards will be
linked up with our digital ID. It will a great injustice if we allow
criminals to use telecom networks under our supervision to watch them
perpetrate crime.
‘‘Many lives will be lost if we do not allow
this happen. Let us ensure our country is protected and ensure that our
platform is not use to commit crime in our country. We do hope you will
hit the ground running,’’ he added.
Responding on behalf of other
board members, the chairman, Prof. Adeolu Akande promised that they
would exceed the 99.9 percent target set for them by the minister.
In
his own remarks, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar
Danbatta also pledged to actualize the mandate, saying that if the
problem of communication could be tackled then the problem of insecurity
would be reduced.
Meanwhile, the board will be inaugurated on Friday.