Telecommunication companies have reportedly lost about N75.78bn as subscribers struggle to link their National Identification Number to the Subscriber Identity Module, barely 22 days after the Federal Government directed telecom companies in the country, to bar defaulting consumers from making outgoing calls.
It could be recalled that, the Federal Government on April 4, directed Telecommunication companies operating in Nigeria to restrict outgoing calls on all lines that had not linked their SIMs to NINs after the deadline for the verification exercise expired on March 31.
As a result, about 72.77 million active telecom subscribers were barred from making calls on their SIMs.
Voice call is the major source of revenue for telecom companies. In 2021, MTN made N819.74bn from voice revenue, while Airtel made N397.91bn from voice.
According to the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, the industry Average Revenue per User was N1, 420 in 2020. This translates to about N1, 041.33 per subscriber in 22 days.
According to the statement announcing the directive, subscribers whose lines are restricted can have them unrestricted once they link their SIMs to their NINs.
Meanwhile, sources in the telecom industry have said the process has not been seamless and that it is also impacting telcos’ revenue stream.
Very unfortunately, the crises situation is worse in rural areas, as more businesses, which rely on mobile, are gradually on the verge of collapsing because of the directive
Barely, a week ago, the Federal Government attributed the delay in issuance of international passports to the rare but sudden breakdown of the NIMC server. Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Abdulrauf Aregbesola, disclosed that the breakdown of the NIMC server has made validation of passport applicants’ biodata impossible, adding that discrepancies in names of citizens on their passports and NIN also add to the problem.
“We are not the ones holding your passports and preventing you from travelling. The problem is the inability to link your biodata with your NIN. That is beyond our control. Why could this be? The server of NIMC might be down, it rarely happens, but it does happen.
“Another problem is the applications themselves. Individuals shouldn’t be bearing different names on their NIN and passports. It won’t be a seamless integration. There shouldn’t be a mix up of middle names in place of first names and vice versa, as it is on your NIMC, so it should appear on your passport. These little things conspire against speedy processing of passports,” Aregbesola said.
Recall also, that the NIMC Act was enacted by the Nigerian National Assembly in 2007 following Great Britain’s Identity Cards Act 2006 which was part of Britain’s approved counter terrorism initiative by then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, in response to the September 11 attacks in 2001.
By virtue of the Identity Documents Act 2010 of Great Britain, on 21 January 2011, the Identity Cards Act 2006 was repealed, the National Identity Register (NIR), destroyed and the identity cards were invalidated with no refunds to purchaser because the Identity Card was not preventing crime as argued and more importantly because of the government’s preference to the freedom of its citizens.
In pushing for the scrapping of the identity card , Home Secretary, Theresa May said,‘This bill is a first step of many that this government is taking to reduce the control of the state over decent, law-abiding people and hand power back to them.
“By taking swift action to scrap it, we are making it clear that this government won’t sacrifice people’s liberty for the sake of Ministers’pet projects.
Home Secretary Theresa May‘emphasized further that ‘Cancelling the scheme and abolishing the National Identity Register is a major step in dismantling the surveillance state– but ID cards are just the tip of the iceberg.
Nigerians are therefore questioning the gains of the entire exercise which the government hinged on improved security through digital surveillance of terrorism and other criminal acts.
Terrorism has not abated as Nigerians watch kidnappers using Sim cards to negotiate and obtain ransoms with impunity. Other criminals also coordinate their activities in the telecoms space with government apparatus reacting only after the commission of crimes. Proactive digital surveillance would have nipped crimes in the bud.
In the midst of this stark digital surveillance failure, the hapless and harmless telecoms subscriber at the lower rungs of society would wonder why they are being unduly punished.
