MEMBERS of Nigeria’s House of Representatives have been advised to reconsider their rejection of the N6.1 billion SIM Card registration budget as proposed by the Nigeria Communications Commission(NCC).
However, a member of the Computer Registration Council of Nigeria, Idika Ocha, advised the lawmakers to consider the lives and safety of Nigerian citizens above other considerations.
Ocha, who spoke to journalists in Abuja, reminded the lawmakers that international terrorism, fraud, robbery and other crimes often involve extensive communications through text messages or voice calls.
“The Madrid bomb was detonated using a SIM card. Back home in Nigeria, we are also witnessing increasing incidents of threats and fraud launched daily on our citizens using mobile phones.
Dr Ocha, who expressed surprise over the action of members of the Lower House who stalled the much-awaited start of the registration of over 79 million existing SIM Cards on various networks operating in the country, argued that security agencies, consumer advocacy groups, service providers and experts agreed that the Commission is best placed to carry out the registration.
Perhaps less obvious, but equally important for the support for SIM card registration by industry stakeholder is the nagging question of just how many telephone subscribers Nigeria truly has. This question will be put to rest when the SIM card registration is concluded.
According to NCC figures, at the last estimation the country had slightly over 70 million subscribers. However, it is acknowledged that a percentage of these are made up of individuals who hold more than one SIM card, but the exact figure is unknown.
Collaterally related to this is the need for definitive determination of market data on the operators in Nigeria’s telecoms marketplace. The market share statistics of different operators would guide the NCC in enacting directives for competition regulation.
“For variety of reasons, policy makers, law makers, regulators, operators, security agents, stakeholders in the industry and an informed segment of the general public are unanimous in their support for SIM card registration in the country with- NCC driving the process,” said Ocha.
“Within the ambit of the rule-making process of the commission, several options for carrying out SIM card registration were explored and the modalities of realising them were considered by an Action Committee, comprised of NCC officials, GSM operators, security operatives, media and other relevant bodies presented a finalised report,” he said.
