The NIN-SIM debacle

The Federal Government has directed the telecoms service providers in the country to deactivate lines that have yet to be linked to the National Identification Numbers (NIN). The implication is that such lines would be barred from making calls, and that has already started. Meanwhile, the process of registering for the NIN is, to say the least, cumbersome and tortuous and linking SIMs to the NIN is not a piece of cake either. And that is why over 73 million SIMs are reportedly yet to be linked to the NIN and the affected GSM lines are already being deactivated by the telecoms companies.  To show how ridiculous the state of affairs in the country is, the telecoms operators have been barring lines with proven NIN-SIM linkage from making calls and have had to apologise for the travesty. That underscores the magnitude of confusion and the trouble that the Federal Government’s directive has thrown Nigerians into.

Yes,  the government has  extended the deadline for SIM-NIN linkage more than once , but it should be noted that there is no way a population like Nigeria’s phone users can be NIN-linked in the time frame provided by the government. One major reason for that is the absence of adequate infrastructure, particularly power, to support such a deadline. Besides, the SIM-NIN issue has become yet another corruption industry. Nigerians are being fleeced in the name of NIN-SIM linkage. Also, the queues at the enrollment centres are simply enervating. There is no civilised country of the world where going digital comes with so much stress. The Minister of Communication and digital economy,  Isa  Pantami, who literally hijacked the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) from the Ministry of Interior under which it hitherto operated, must up his ante. He has to go back to the drawing board and drive a seamless process, because his current approach is causing Nigerians unbearable pain.

It is disturbing that old people, pregnant women and physically challenged people have been queuing up for weeks waiting to be registered. To make matters worse, some Nigerians even reportedly got NIN from some telecoms companies and NIMC offices, only to be told while trying to link them with their SIMs that the NINs were not correct. There is so much confusion in the process of multiple data capturing in the country, and unfortunately there is no guarantee that this will be the last even if it succeeds.  It is thus imperative that the Federal Government fashions a stress-free process. It is ridiculous to preach digitalism by manualism. The government ought to have taken advantage of the previous Biometric Verification Number (BVN) registration in allocating NINs. Instead, it asked all Nigerians to begin yet another round of long queues. Nigeria has become a country of biometric capturing: you go to Immigration, Federal Road Safety Corps (FIRSC), banks, telecoms companies and embassies to do the same thing. Why can’t data be harmonised? Could there be another tangential objective other than having citizens’ accurate data for easy retrieval for official use as the need arises?

One of the official reasons being put forward for the seeming urgency in SIM-NIN linkage is to enable security agents to keep a tab on the activities of criminals. However, is the Federal Government really strict with the phone lines of terrorists, bandits and kidnappers? And in any case, what evidence is there that NIN-SIM linkage does deter criminals? Bandits and kidnappers have been making calls and collecting ransoms without the security agencies being able to do anything about it. Oftentimes, they even use the lines of their victims to make such calls, so how does the SIM-NIN linkage help? And even in the unlikely event that SIM-NIN linkage helps in determining the identity of criminals, how does that lead to their easy apprehension when they are mostly in hiding in the forest? And if the security agencies know some of the leaders of these terrorists, how many of them have been apprehended by virtue of that knowledge?  The truth is that what the security agencies need to zero in on the criminals when they make calls is the coordinates of the location where the calls are made. However, it is clear that no one is willing to take the battle to the criminals where they are. Yet the government finds it convenient to subject citizens to endless rounds of biometric capturing that are of little or no help in reining in criminality.

Ideally, NIN-SIM linkage ought to be an ongoing exercise since people acquire new SIMS and become phone users on a daily basis. The Federal Government is, therefore, urged to stop the culture of unnecessary and unrealistic deadlines. It should demonstrate greater commitment to fighting crime and criminals and make SIM-NIN linkage stress-free for Nigerians.