Defective biometrics, unavailable surveillance software hampering insecurity fight ― Dare, ministerial nominee

Executive Commissioner (Stakeholder Management) of the Nigerian Communication Commission, Mr Sunday Dare, on Thursday, identified lack of surveillance software and defective biometrics in SIM card registration as hampering the use of technology to fight kidnapping and other criminality in the country.

While noting that the country had a SIM registration database of 172 a million subscribers, Dare said the commission had challenges in the data gathered ranging from non-completion of some fields in registration forms, fuzzy pictures, aside from the fact that the nation did not have real-time surveillance software that monitored all
subscribers 24/7.

Speaking during his screening as a ministerial nominee at the Senate plenary held on Wednesday, Dare, however, said that the commission, in conjunction with the National Identity Management Commission, had in the past three years, cleaning the data of over 50 million subscribers as handed over to them by the operators.

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As of now, Dare said the SIM card can only be used to trace kidnappers when a phone call is made after the kidnapping had been done.

He noted that the NCC was not oblivious of the need to use technology to arrest kidnapping hence was in collaboration with the office of the National Security Adviser, the Department of Security Services and the police.

On a number of occasions, he said the NCC had in acting upon telephone numbers of kidnap incidents brought to the commission’s notice, queried the database of telecom operators on several occasions.

“The issue of kidnapping worries us, not just as regulators but also as citizens of this country and we have watched across the country how we have seen a spike in the level of kidnapping.

“The starting point really is that to arrest kidnapping, it is a collaborative effort because the NCC as a regulator, without making any excuses, does not have prosecutorial powers.

“Every SIM card in use is connected to the network. So, yes, it is possible to trace the kidnappers — but until kidnapping occurs; until that phone call is made, there is no real-time surveillance or software to be able to monitor 172 million lines round the clock.”

“Until the kidnapping is done until the phone call is made, no software to monitor 172 million users.

“We have a sim registration database inclusive of 172 million subscribers, providing the necessary biometrics of the users after which we began a process of verification and screening.

“It is expected to have every SIM card registered with the necessary information and data — biometrics as the case may be.”

“So, we have been able to work on that process. “In the last three years, we have worked with NIMC to scrub data and get them back. They have the equipment and the software to scrub this data and get them back to the NCC. This is still ongoing.

“We have done over 50 million and have captured at least 85 per cent of every sim in this country in terms of registration,” Dare said.