Nigerian Communications Commission has stated that appropriate registration of SIM numbers by operators and telecom consumers in Nigeria is mandatory.
NCC commissioner for stakeholder management, Sunday Dare, said this at the 3rd annual sensitisation workshop for the North central zone on the consequences of using pre-registered SIM cards held in Keffi, Nasarawa state recently.
NCC’s director for compliance monitoring and enforcement Efosa Idehen who spoke on behalf of Dare told participants at the workshop that the objective of the SIM registration exercise is to assist in easy identification of mobile telephone users and for the detection of crimes perpetrated by deviant users of mobile phones.
He said it is illegal to buy or use SIM cards that have been previously registered by a different, usually fictitious names and identities because this will make it difficult to trace users of such SIM cards when the cards are used for crimes. By implication, anyone who bought or sell SIM cards that have been pre-registered will be arrested and prosecuted by appropriate agencies of government.
“This explained why NCC issued directives to telecom operators to deactivate all illegal SIM cards and also instructed that any registered and activated MSISDN with no Revenue Generating Event (RGE) within 48 hours should automatically be returned to one way service.” This means a subscriber so circumstanced can only receive call on the SIM but will not be able to initiate a call.
He stated that the directive to registration agents and citizens to register SIM cards only in “controlled environments” (within a permanent structure or facility), and traceable to a specific agent, is still in force.
