The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) last week told Nigerians that it has completely deactivated all unregistered SIM cards from the network of all mobile operators, 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.
“By our records, all improperly-registered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards across Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) in Nigeria have been completely deactivated,” the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has said in Abuja.
According to Danbatta, the complete deactivation of the improperly-registered SIM Cards follows the September 2019 Ministerial directive, that the NCC should compel service providers to block all improperly-registered SIM cards, pending when their owners regularise their registration.
He said this directive intensified the efforts of the Commission by reducing the number of improperly-registered SIM cards from 9.2 million to 2.2 million within two weeks.
Narrating further, Danbatta stated that the Commission’s efforts in this regard is in line with one of the key agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari to strengthen security of lives and property for all Nigerians.
In his words: The EVC said, over the years, the NCC has tenaciously worked with determination and through various policy initiatives, to rid mobile networks of improperly or invalidly-registered SIM cards to ensure that all the current over 184 million registered SIM cards/mobile lines across MNOs’ networks have valid data that are traceable and not anonymous.
“As at the time the Ministerial order was issued, the Commission, through its Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement team, had reduced the number of improperly-registered SIM cards on mobile networks in the country to 9.2 million.
“As part of the Commission’s ongoing regulatory interventions such as the setting up of the SIM Registration Industry Task Force, which led to several resolutions including the Industry Working Group (IWG) on harmonisation of SIM registration process with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to ensure a clean SIM database, the Commission had, in June 2019, commenced the second round of comprehensive verification audit of MNOs’ SIM card registrations. This audit exercise was concluded in August 2019. The audit was specifically to ensure strict adherence by telecom operators to the provisions of the Telephone Subscribers Registration Regulations 2011.