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28
Thu, Mar

95m Invalid SIM Data Jeopardizes National Interest-NCC

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that about 95.7 million subscribers have been improperly registered since the exercise started in 2011, making the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card data
The Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management at NCC, Mr Sunday Dare, who was represented by Mr Efosa Idehen, the Director, Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement at the commission made the statement during the South-south regional sensitisation workshop on the dangers of fraudulently-activated SIM cards organised by the commission in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

 

NCC said the number of invalid SIM card registration from mobile network operators (MNOs) is 63.2 per cent, attributing it to invalid face capturing and fingerprints, which defeats the purpose of the exercise.

This has aided the increase in criminal activities like armed robbery, kidnapping, financial crimes among others.

“a total of 151,449,837 registration data of subscribers have been processed, with only 55,749,652 records valid, bringing the total number of invalid SIM card registration to 95,700,185,” NCC said.

The commission also said it would prosecute perpetrators of fraudulently registered sim cards with 25-years imprisonment, as prescribed by law.

This comes after the continuously fighting cases of fraudulently-registered or activated SIM cards by the commission from 2012 to date, posing threat to the national interest.

According to the commission, once an agent involved in pre-registered SIM cards is arrested, other players in the SIM registration value chain including the super-agents, the heads of marketing of MNOs and possibly the Chief Executives of licensees, who was likely to have illegally benefitted from the illegal SIM registration activities to meet their marketing targets would be affected.

According to Idehen, the workshop development necessitated the need for the sensitisation workshop too, once again educate all players in the SIM registration value chain on the dangers posed by fraudulently-registered SIM cards to the country’s national security.

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