New Telegraph

SIM-NIN integration: Minimising risks at enrolment centres

In about three weeks from now, the Federal Government may be carrying out its threat of blocking lines that are not linked with the National Identity Number (NIN). But beyond the blocking of lines, stakeholders fear many more Nigerians may have by that time contracted and down with the coronavirus from the uncontrolled gatherings at enrolment centres. SAMSON AKINTARO reports.

As the deadline issued by the Federal Government for the integration of every subscriber’s SIM registration data with the National Identity Number database, many Nigerians have remained apprehensive as their daily commute to the NIN enrolment centres has yielded no result. Before the announcement of compulsory integration for phone users in December last year, enrolment for the NIN had never been an easy exercise for Nigerians as long queues were usually sighted at all National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) offices across the country.

With the mandatory enrollment for all phone users, the situation has become worse as large crowds besiege the NIMC offices on a daily basis to beat the February 9, 2021 deadline. This has sparked fears among many Nigerians, who see the gatherings as a super spreader of COVID-19. Incidentally, this is coming at a time the country is experiencing the second wave of the pandemic with daily cases of infections and deaths surpassing the records of the first wave.

Licensed agencies

What was aimed at easing the exercise and reducing the crowd at the NIMC centres is now turning to be a flash in the pan as none of the 173 agencies licensed has started enrolment as of the time of filing this report. Less than three weeks to the deadline, it is yet to be ascertained when these licensed bodies, which include the mobile network operators, would begin their enrolments. According to the spokesman of NIMC, Mr. Kayode Adegoke, the decentralisation of the enrollment exercise is aimed at addressing the bottlenecks associated with the capturing of citizens’ data by NIMC. The method is expected to increase the enrolment centres from the current 1,000 to 10,000 nationwide.

The breakdown of the licensees shows that 16 state governments, including Abia, Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Lagos, Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Oyo, Ogun, Sokoto, and Zamfara, were licensed to register people for NIN. “The public sector institutions licensed are the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), National Pension Commission, Central Bank of Nigeria (through the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems Plc), National Population Commission, Economic, and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Joint Tax Board and Nigeria Postal Services,” Adegoke added. Unfortunately, many of the licensees are still awaiting the requisite equipment from abroad.

According to a senior staff of one of the licensed mobile operators, “none of the 173 firms can say they have started any serious enrollments.” Apart from the unavailability of the equipment needed for the enrollment, other challenges highlighted by licensees include questions surrounding the capacity of personnel expected to operate the machines, issues related to finances, shortage of machines by NIMC, and constraints imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, among others.

Subscribers apprehensive

Meanwhile, telecommunications subscribers in the country have remained apprehensive over the need to go for the NIN enrolment at a time the country is experiencing a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases.

Although all the telecoms service providers have introduced codes to allow subscribers, who already have the NIN, to do a seamless integration on their lines, the fear stems from the fact that millions of phone users are yet to enrol for the number. According to the subscribers, many Nigerians now face the risk of contracting the deadly disease while queuing up for the NIN enrolment. Speaking with our correspondent, the Chairman of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATCOMS), Mr. Deolu Ogunbanjo, said by giving a deadline of February 9 for millions of Nigerians to register for NIN, the government is exposing the people to COVID-19. Ogunbanjo queried the timing of the directive, saying that the government had shown insensitivity to the need for Nigerians to stay safe as more cases of COVID-19 are being recorded on a daily basis. “Telling subscribers to get their NIN by all means at this period is not safe.

We all know how the queue for enrolment is always long even when there was no deadline. And now that people have been threatened that their lines would be blocked, you can only imagine the crowd at the NIMC registration centres, which are not even well spread.

“Many people will be exposed to COVID-19 in the process, and we are therefore calling on the government to review its decision,” Ogunbanjo said. Recall that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, had, earlier in December 2020, directed all telecom subscribers in the country to link their SIMs registration with NIN by December 31, 2020, or risk being blocked from the networks. The government was forced to extend the deadline to February 9, 2021, as many Nigerians condemned the ‘military-style’ directive.

NCC allays fear

While many subscribers continue to besiege the NIMC centres to enroll for the NIN to secure their lines, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that the fears of many Nigerians that there would be mass disconnection post-February 9 were unfounded. According to the telecoms regulator, with 43 million already issued NIN, about 172 million lines out of the 207 million recorded as of October 2020, may have been linked. This, the commission said, was because almost all Nigerians have multiple SIMs, which means that a NIN could be linked with multiple numbers belonging to one person.

“A recent survey conducted in Nigeria has shown that on average, there are now approximately four to five SIMs to every human subscriber. This explains the basis of allowing the linkage of up to seven SIMs to one unique NIN in the recently launched Federal Government portal,” the commission said in a statement issued by its Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde.

“Thus, if there are 43 million Nigerians with NINs, this could account for about 172 million SIMs already linked to NINs. It is very important to emphasize that the current exercise of linking NIN to SIM(s) is for the common good of all Nigerians, as it has far-reaching benefits,” NCC added. The telecoms regulator said that the fear of mass disconnection was based on the erroneous assumption that for every network or SIM connection, there is one unique human subscriber.

It noted that with the advent of social media and an app-driven digital environment, network subscriptions went beyond human subscribers to include machines like PoS, Routers, Wi-Fi devices, electricity meters, CCTV, tracking devices, etc.

NCC added that the NIN, apart from enhancing general safety, would help in such vital exercises as national budgeting, policy planning, social intervention programs, and many more. “The Honourable Minister of Communication and Digital Economy has assured that the government will continue to review the exercise in the light of experiences to ensure its smooth implementation,” the commission stated.

Increasing crowd proves otherwise

If the assurances of the NCC were anything to go by, NIMC enrolment centres should have seen a fewer crowd as the deadline draws closer. On the contrary, the number of people wanting to obtain their NIN before the deadline has kept on increasing on a daily basis. The situation had forced workers of NIMC to down tool recently as they feared for their safety against COVID-19 before it was later called off. Suffice to say that with the crowd of Nigerians thronging NIMC’s office everyday for NIN enrolment without success, the subscribers’ fears may not be unfounded after all.

BVN dismissed

Incidentally, what could have been an easy way out of the NIN debacle for subscribers; NIN being generated through Bank Verification Number (BVN), has been dismissed by NIMC. The commission had last year disclosed that it had harmonised over 11 million BVN data with the National Identity Database. Under normal circumstances, this should mean automatic NIN for the BVN owners, whose data have been harmonised, hence, many who had not enrolled with NIMC got their NIN by dialing the *346# code on their registered lines.

However, NIMC said the BVN-generated NIN must be verified through physical presence at its office before it can be integrated with any SIM. The agency explained that NIN generated by the BVN could only be used after it has been updated at the NIMC enrollment centre.

“You must complete your NIN registration even if your BVN has generated a NIN. If your NIN was generated due to the BVN record harmonisation with the National Identity Database, you will not have access to the NIMC Mobile App and your NIN-SIM integration will be invalid,” NIMC stated.

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