The NIN-SIM exercise, subscribers’ pain and insecurity
23 September 2024 |
4:12 am
Following the expiration of the deadline given telecommunication operators to disconnect subscribers whose Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards have not been linked with their National Identity Number (NIN)
Following the expiration of the deadline given telecommunication operators to disconnect subscribers whose Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards have not been linked with their National Identity Number (NIN), about 50 million Nigerians are estimated to be so cut off from their phones. It is worthy of consideration, however, that many of the subscribers are being punished not necessarily for their negligence, but more due to the lack of capacity of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to capture and link them within the given time frame. That incapacity actually informed the various postponements of the linkage exercise over the past four years. This is not encouraging, and the NIMC should take responsibility for it. The more unfortunate offshoot of the entire exercise is that while it was partly designed as a strategy to curb widespread criminality across the country, the worrisome indications are that crime, especially high profile ones such as banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, robbery, and the likes are actually increasing, going by regular media reports.
It is worrisome that with over a decade into the collections of various biometric data of Nigerians, there is no codified data base of the citizens of Nigeria yet. Rather, they exist in bits such as Drivers Licence, Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards, Permanent Voters Card, National Identification Number (NIN), Bank Verification Number (BVN), and International Passport. According to data from the NCC, as of March 2024, there were 219 million active mobile lines across networks like MTN, Glo, Airtel, and 9mobile. Of these, 153 million were linked to NIN, leaving around 66 million lines at risk of being disconnected.
This gap perhaps has aided criminal activities and not adequately helped in the distribution of amenities, especially palliatives to citizens as it is done in more developed societies. It is high time the Federal Government re-channels its energy into fixing identity management in Nigeria. The SIM-NIN linkage exercise should have been a major litmus test, but the hitches have rendered this capacity a doubt. Indeed, barring any extension of the September 14, 2024 deadline, Nigeria is expected to be blocking all unlinked SIM cards to the NIN by Sunday, September 15, 2024. About 50 million SIMs may be affected by the blockade.
Under the NIN-SIM linkage policy, an individual is allowed to register a maximum of four SIM cards per network operator. This is exclusive of SIMS that the individual may wish to use in Internet of Things (IoT) devices such as wearable, trackers, among others. The emphasis on proper registration of SIMs, the compulsory registration of NIN and its verification, as well as the NIN-SIM linkage exercise, commenced in 2011, to address the huge anomalies created by fraudsters that took criminal advantage of the loopholes in the entire ecosystem, a development that negates security architecture of the country.
Over a decade into this exercise, at least N57 billion has been spent by both the government and mobile network operator (MNOs) on repeated frequent calls for biometric registration. The Federal Government came up with the idea of NIN-SIM linkage in 2020. It was an awkward time as the world was battling COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the pandemic, Nigerians were forced out to queue at designated centres for the exercise. The then Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, claimed that the registration was part of the government’s effort to enshrine a Know-Your-Customer regime, to ensure that no mobile phone user is anonymous in Nigeria. This is to curb identity theft, kidnapping, cybercrime, and other criminal activities.
Pantami had emphasised that the exercise would help the country, largely to tackle the rising insecurity in Nigeria. Today, four years later, insecurity has festered in Nigeria beyond imagination. Cyber criminals are smiling to the bank almost on a daily basis! About $500 million, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is lost in the country yearly to various forms of cybercrimes, including hacking, identity theft, cyber terrorism, harassment, and Internet fraud. To compound these woes, The Observatory of Religious Freedom in Africa in a recent report, revealed that as Nigeria continues to wage war against insecurity, no fewer than 55,910 persons were killed while 21,000 others were abducted by terror groups operating in different parts of the country in the past four years. The report claimed that more Nigerians were kidnapped in 2022 than previous years.
From all indications now, the policy appeared not so inspiring. Apparently the process was not thought through or it was sabotaged ab initio. The truth is coming out now and has shown that the entire process must be rejigged for effectiveness. These incessant killings, coupled with attendant frauds perpetrated via SIMs and NINs, have punctured to a larger extent the purpose of the NIN-SIM exercise. One of the arguments put forward by Prof. Pantami for the rise of these senseless killings and kidnappings, has been the inability of the security officers to access the NIN-SIM database at the National Identity Management Commission. This claim remained a major concern in the country.
To say Nigerians have passed through hell in registering their SIMs and the further linkage will be an understatement. Since the beginning of this month, after the NCC gave what can be described as a final directive to the MNOs to complete the entire linkage process by September 14, 2024, supposedly affected Nigerians with issues with their SIMs have been besieging telcos’ outlets across the country. To compound their woes, officials have complained of their inability to access NIN servers at NIMC because of downtime. The NIMC has denied this claim, saying all its 10,000 registration centres are up and running.
Before now, industry stakeholders have identified NIMC as the weakest link in the entire NIN registration and NIN-SIM linkage exercise, seen as slowing down the entire process. They have called on the Federal Government to provide the necessary funding and capacities that will enable NIMC to operate effectively and efficiently. Issues of pre-registered SIM cards must also be tackled. NCC said with help of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA), it uncovered cases of individual Nigerians registering over 100,000 lines to their names.
As it is, the Federal Government through the Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, led by the minister, Dr Bosun Tijani; Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), under Dr Aminu Maida, and the NIMC, under the leadership of Mrs Bisoye Coker-Odusote, must ensure this process is completed and the purpose behind it is not defeated. The MNOs are very critical in the completion and success of this exercise. The ONSA remains strategic to the success of this exercise in the move to rid the country of people of questionable characters.
The Federal Government must lead this course. It is time to harmonise the various existing databases. This NIN-SIM must be adequately completed now. There must be coordinated synergy among government agencies involved in this process. Funds should be made available where needed; capacities should be built where gaps currently exist. Sanctions should also be applied to erring agencies and commissions to reset the process. Nigerians must be protected.
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