Ø As SERAP asks Buhari to stop registration
The Federal Government has extended the deadline for the provision of National Identification Number, (NIN), by telecommunication service subscribers.
This was contained in a statement on Monday by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
The statement, titled: ‘Extension of Registration Period and Cancellation of USSD and Verification Fees’, was jointly signed by the Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, Umar Danbatta and the Director-General, National Identity Management Commission,(NIMC), Aliyu Aziz.
The statement further stated that the NIMC has provided strategies to enable citizens to attend the registration in full compliance with Covid-19 protocols – particularly the use of facemasks which remains mandatory and maintenance of social distancing.
The NCC had last week ordered telecommunications companies to within two weeks suspend phone subscribers who have no NIN.
Large crowds had besieged NIMC offices in Lagos on Monday in a bid to register and obtain the National Identity Number.
The House of Representatives and several Nigerians had expressed concern over the sudden directive of the Federal Government and had asked that the deadline given for the registration be extended.
Meanwhile, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP), has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to instruct the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, and the Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission, (NIMC), Aliyu Abubakar, to stop the push for registration of Nigerians for National Identity Number, (NIN), and withdraw the threat to block their SIM cards.
SERAP, in a statement issued on Sunday, explained that the data being sought already exist in several platforms, including the Bank Verification Numbers, (BVNs), drivers’ licenses, international passports, and voters’ cards.
The organisation also urged him “to instruct Pantami and Abubakar to take concrete measures to promptly ensure that the NIMC is able to faithfully and effectively discharge its statutory functions to harmonize and integrate existing identification databases in government agencies into the National Identity Database, and to use the information to update SIM card registration.”
SERAP, in the statement by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said, “Instead of forcing Nigerians to register, threatening telecom service providers with sanctions, and exposing Nigerians to the risks of COVID-19, your government ought to make sure that the NIMC discharges its statutory functions to harmonize and integrate existing identification databases in government agencies, and make use of the information collected”.
