The House of Representatives has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to extend the deadline for the re-registration of all SIM cards in Nigeria to February 2021.
The NCC recently gave telecommunications companies a two-week ultimatum to use the NIN, to re-register all SIM cards in the country, to mitigate cases of miscreants using unregistered cards to commit crimes.
The House reached the resolution in plenary after passing a motion entitled “Need for the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to give Nigerians reasonable time to submit their National Identification Number for SIM registration”, sponsored by Minority Leader, Rep. Ndudi Elumelu (PDP-Delta).
Elumelu noted that “The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is the independent body saddled with the responsibilities of regulating telecommunications services and facilities, promoting competition and setting performance standards for telecoms operators in Nigeria, with the Ministry of communication and digital economy as the supervisory ministry”.
He argued further that “in January 2020 the minister of communications and digital economy issued a statement wherein telecom subscribers were mandated to get their National Identity Numbers (NIN) and submit to the network operators, with the aim of ascertaining the true identities of all subscribers and thereby blocking loopholes currently being exploited by unscrupulous individuals”.
The House, after a few comments from members and a few amendments, resolved to order NCC to extend SIM card registration to ten weeks.
The House also called on the Commission to “give a reasonable amount of time to enable Nigerians to meet with the instruction of submitting their National identity numbers to service Providers and not the 2 weeks given”, as it also mandated its house committee on communications to ensure compliance”.
