Nigerians on Monday chose to prevent their SIM from being cut-off over the protection of their health against the COVID-19 pandemic, as they crowded-up the premises of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) enrolment centres in Lagos and Abuja.
On the heels of a flawed and widely criticised directive by the Federal Government, about 50 million unidentified telecom subscribers in Nigeria will be cut-off by January 1, 2021, if they fail to tender their National Identity Number (NIN) for an update of their registration records.
This sent many into a panic rush that left them at risk of being infected with the COVID-19 pandemic that is fast spreading within local communities.
Meanwhile, the government may have reconsidered the health implications and decided to extend the deadline for the registration of NIN by telcos.
According to personal assistant to the president on New Media, Bashir Ahmed, there will be a three-week extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020 to January 19, 2021.
While a six-week extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020 to February 9, 2021.
The SIM card is an integrated circuit that is made to securely store the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number and authenticate subscribers on mobile telephony.
Many of the subscribers without the NIN numbers on Monday, thronged to NIMC’s centres, breaching Covid-19 safety precautions including observing social distancing and wearing a facemask, BusinessDay found during a visit to the centres.
“The crowding doesn’t just set Lagos up for multiple rises in transmission rate. It suggests the commercial capital residence to over 20 million people is on track to sustain its position as the epicentre of the disease of the spread,” according to a Lagosian at NIMC centre.
However, the NIMC office was shut much later in response to the safety breach.
Although it takes about 10 minutes to get each person registered, BusinessDay gathered, some subscribers said they spent over seven hours waiting to get registered.
Okechukwu Nze, who spoke with BusinessDay, said he was at the NIMC headquarters as early as 7am, but was yet to be captured as at 12:10pm when BusinessDay visited the office.
Subscribers were asked to submit their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), driver’s licence, international passport, and voters’ card, among others.
But responding to BusinessDay inquiries, Kayode Adegoke, head of corporate communication, NIMC, blamed Nigerians for not coming earlier for the registration before the two weeks ultimatum given by the minister.
He linked the overwhelming crowding to the refusal of Nigerians to heed Federal Government’s earlier directives on NIN registration.
“Early in February 2020, the federal government made NIN prerequisites for SIM registration and directed that all SIM cards be updated with NIN before 1st December 2020. On 16 December 2020, the minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami gave a two weeks ultimatum for all SIM cards to be linked with NIN to avoid being blocked,” he said.
Also reacting to the poor development at NIMC’s centres, Adegoke said the minister of communication “didn’t just give a two-week ultimatum. The two weeks were to remind them about what was said since 2019. The registration takes less than 10 minutes, but the crowd you are seeing is as a result of people taking government word for levity.”
Meanwhile, the government has approved the licensing of 173 private sector agents and 30 state government and public sector institutions to conduct enrolment of Nigerians and legal residents into the National Identity Database, NIDB, on behalf of the NIMC.
According to NIMC, 16 state governments were licensed, including Abia, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Lagos, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Oyo, Ogun, Sokoto and Zamfara.
Prominent among the public sector institutions licensed are the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Pension Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria (through the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems plc), National Population Commission, Economic, and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joint Tax Board and Nigeria Postal Services.
Other public sector organisations assigned to issue licences include Military Pensions Board, Abuja Enterprise Agency, Corporate Affairs Commission, National Health Insurance Scheme, National Agricultural Extension and Research Liaison Services and National Commission for Refugees, Migrants and Internally Displaced Persons.
The main mobile network operators in Nigeria, MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile are among the 173 private sector organisations licensed, while Etranzact, VDT Communications, Unified Payment Services, were also successful.
Seven NGOs, namely Africa Youth Growth Foundation, An Nadaa Educational Foundation, Arrida Relief Foundation, Hadejia Ina Mafita Initiative Community Based Organisation, Mimido Initiative and Development and Murna Foundation were also licensed.
