Amidst the confusion, telecommunications operators in the country, yesterday, heeded Federal Government’s directive to bar every unlinked Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) card with National Identification Number (NIN) on their various networks, in a bid to control insecurity, extortions and abductions.

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy had directed the operators to bar outgoing calls on all unlinked SIM cards in the country.

President Muhammadu Buhari, in December 2020, had ordered all phone lines to be linked to an identification number to curb rising incidents of abductions in the country. 
   
Officials of some operators, who spoke with The Guardian, yesterday, confirmed receiving letters from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and have since commenced barring outgoing calls from all unlinked SIMs on their networks.

This is as concerns mount over the increase in activities of terrorists and kidnappers who get across to victims’ families to collect ransoms in millions of naira, despite the linking and verification of NINs to SIMs.

According to stakeholders, the situation has become dicey, as there have been accusations and counter-accusations among telecoms operators and security operatives as regards the usage of subscribers’ data in rescue mission.

Kidnappers usually call relatives of their victims with unregistered SIM cards, which authorities are unable to trace. The latest rule will mean that about 75 million phone lines that aren’t linked to NIN won’t be able to make calls.  

Out of the nation’s 198 million phone connections, 125 million SIM cards had been verified and linked to 78 million unique national identity numbers, according to a statement by the NCC.  

MTN Group Ltd.’s Nigerian unit is the largest operator with 75 million subscribers, giving it a market share of about 38 per cent. Other major operators include Airtel Africa Plc, Globacom Ltd and 9Mobile.

The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had in February, disclosed that since the time government started sanitising its database, “no single person or official that has the legal power to ask for bio data of any information with regards to NIN-SIM for rescue mission has beckoned on the ministry to provide such information. It has never happened.”
   
Pantami informed that President Buhari even approved the Lawful Intercept order to support security agents.
  
“President Buhari has approved for them to do it without even our intervention as a ministry. So, with that approval, NCC has conveyed that through my office to all relevant institutions that Mr. President has granted approval for such. So, with it, they can get databases even without our permission.
   
“But since then, they (security agents) have never complained or come to me even once to demand information from the database. The only person that wrote a letter to me was the Minister of Defence, saying that we should try to finish the NIN-SIM exercise on time,” he stated.

Following concerns raised over the use of phones to negotiate ransom by terrorists despite the NIN-SIM registration, telcos have said there were no unregistered SIM cards on the network of any service provider in the country, insisting that all registered SIM cards can be traced to their users and owners for any security reasons.

Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr Gbenga Adebayo, clarified concerns that kidnappers who recently invaded the Abuja-Kaduna train and kidnapped many persons, still used mobile phones with registered SIM cards to contact the families of their victims.

Adebayo said telecoms operators have the data of all registered SIM cards, insisting that the owners could be traced alongside the geo-location of the mobile phone.

He, however, explained that it could be difficult to trace the kidnappers of the Abuja-Kaduna railway train attack who still use mobile phones with registered SIM cards to contact the families of their victims for ransom because they use their victim’s mobile phones for the calls.