In line with the persistent agitations by the Association of Telephone, Cable and Internet Subscribers, ATCIS, the Federal Government has lifted the ban on new Subscribers Identification Module (SIMs) card registration, as it fixed Monday, April 19, 2021 as the effective date for implementation.
The latest development was contained in revised National Digital Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The government however placed NIN registration as mandatory for registering new SIM cards.
A statement by Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Femi Adeluyi, reads in part: “The implementation of the Policy will commence on Monday, 19th of April 2021.
“The issuance of New SIMs and other suspended activities will resume on the same date, as long as verification is done and the guidelines are fully adhered to.
“The Minister has also directed NCC and NIMC to ensure that the provisions of the Policy are strictly followed by all operators and subscribers.
“The Policy includes Guidelines on New SIM Acquisition and Activation, SIM Replacement, New SIM Activation for Corporates and Internet-of-Things/Machine-to-Machine (IoT/M2M), amongst others.
“The possession of a National Identity number will be a prerequisite for each of these categories. For the Corporate registration, institutions will be required to appoint a Telecoms Master (at the minimum of an Executive Management level) to provide the operational Primary NIN representation.
“The Telecoms Master will also be responsible for ensuring that the users provide their NINs to serve as a Secondary NIN.
“For IoT/M2M activations, SIM security protocols would be implemented on the SIM profile to ensure that SIMs can only be used for point to point data services specific to the URL they are working with. All other services will be barred.”
Reacting to the development, the ATCIS National President, Hon Sina Bilesanmi lauded the federal government for listening to the voices of the subscribers by ending the ban which he said would also go a long way in ending the suffering of Nigerian youths.
The association, he noted, had written several memos to the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy on the need to reverse the ban as the suspension of new SIM cards registration had in the last four months rendered over two million youths jobless across the country thereby worsening the security challenges the government was trying to address.
While reiterating that more than 10 billion in revenues have been lost by the telecoms partners in last four months, Bilesanmi noted that over 1 billion in VAT and withholding tax has also been lost by the Federal Government due to the policy.
Specifically, several Nigerian citizens have been subjected to hardship due to miscalculated policies of the NCC as majority of the telecoms business partners, staff and the agents are within the age bracket 20 to 40 years, while income in the value chain is determined by the number of activations /SIM registration carried out within every month, hence leaving them jobless for too long.
.
The ATCIS President also reiterated his call on the Federal Government especially the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy to always invite the association to meetings before critical decisions are taken.
“It is very important for the minister to always call us to meetings. We are the representatives of the Nigerian subscribers. Our inputs are also critical to the development of the ministry especially in terms of digital economy,” Bilesanmi said.
Meanwhile, the ATCIS President said due to the latest development whereby the registration and activation of new SIM cards is expected to commence on Monday, April 19, 2021, the association’s Success Stories Press Conference earlier scheduled to hold on same day in Lagos, has been postponed.
According to him, the ATCIS Success Stories Press Conference would now hold on Monday May 3, 2021.
The ATCIS is the umbrella body of telephone, cable and internet subscribers in Nigeria cutting across the six geographical areas of the nation.
Speaking on determination of the association to continue speaking and fighting for the rights of Nigerian telephone and cable subscribers, Bilesanmi said over the years, in its sustained effort in protecting the interest and right of telecoms subscribers in Nigeria, ATCIS has spent about N367million since 2014 till 31st January, 2021which has basically been on self-sponsored by members without government agency like NCC, NBC and NIMC input.
The association has made over 630 newspaper publications, both local and international as well as online news publication, Radio and National Television Station Interviews with about 95 landmark achievements so far.
Leave a Reply