The Federal Government last week stirred up a hornets’ nest when it gave a two-week window for telecoms operators to deactivate millions of subscribers over the National Identity Number (NIN). 

The Minister of Communication and Digital economy, Dr Ibrahim Pantami is not new to controversial decisions. As Director-General, National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), he had issues with the Nigeria Computer Society (NCS) over his attempt to register and license IT professionals in the country.

At a time subscribers were complaining over the punitive cost and slow speed of data, the minister two weeks ago said he had directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to crash data cost by 50 per cent.

The average cost of 1GB of data has been reduced from the January 2020 cost of N1,000 to N487.18 in November 2020, which amounts to 47.33per cent lower than the projected value, Dr Pantami had said through his Technical Assistant, Information and Technology, Mr Femi Adeluyi.

Bur subscribers who pay for data know that nothing has changed. Rather than a reduction, they have been paying through their nostrils.

Then came the directive to suspend new SIM card registration and now the directive to operators to deactivate subscribers whose SIMs are not linked to their National Identity Number (NIN) usually issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), an agency hitherto under the Presidency but now under Pantami’s watch.

NIN is an 11-digit number that is uniquely generated after successful enrolment. It adds holders to the National Identity Database (NIDB) that allows access to government services.

NCC, in a statement, said: “Stakeholders agreed that urgent drastic measures have now become inevitable to improve the integrity and transparency of the SIM registration process.

“The following decisions were taken for immediate implementation by all network operators: affirmation of the earlier directive to totally suspend registration of new SIMs by all operators; operators to require all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update SIM registration records; the submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020 and end by 30 December, 2020); after the deadline, all SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks.

“Following the earlier directive on the suspension of new SIM registration by network operators, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) convened an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in the Communications industry on Monday, December 14, 2020.

“The meeting had in attendance the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the NIMC, as well as the CEOs and management staff of all service providers in the industry.

“A Ministerial Task Force comprising the minister and all the CEOs (among others) as members is to monitor compliance by all networks; violations of this directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating licence; the general public is hereby urged to ensure that their NINs are captured in their SIM registration data.’’

Stakeholders  react

Expectedly, the directive drew spontaneous reaction from stakeholders as the former President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, said the two-week window was tight considering that there are 205 million active subscribers on the network while NIMC has so far captured 43 million people.

He said the 43 million, most of who would be having multiple SIM cards, would be integrated through NIMC’s application programme interface (API), while those that do not have NIN will be disconnected.

Teniola said there would be panic considering the capacity of NIMC, especially during the Yuletide when people would want to get across to loved ones through voice calls and text messages in the era of COVID-19 but would not able to do so because they have been disconnected from the system by their service providers on the orders of the government. This, he said, would inevitably lead to a shortfall in Q1 profit of the telcos.

Teniola was saying the obvious. In 2015 when the NCC descended on the operators over SIM registration infractions, millions of subscribers were rudely disconnected from the network, a development which sparked angry protests and overcrowding at the offices and registration centres of the carriers.  With this directive, overcrowding is most likely at NIMC registration centres while there will be bitterness over the inability of people to get in touch with their loved ones on phone during this terrible times of COVID-19 pandemic.

The NCS wondered why the rush when there was neither awareness about the initiative nor the infrastructure by the NIMC to handle the expected surge in the number millions of subscribers that would engage in panic rush so as not to be taken off the network.

Through its Security Group, the Information Technology System Professionals (ISSP) said the people that will be most hit are those without NIN.

Its Executive Secretary, Rogba Adeoye, said the two weeks is too short because of the dearth of infrastructure to support it. “If you look at NIMC registration centres, they are already overstretched but you would recall that the telcos, not long ago, did SIM registration and invested heavily on the project. They can rely on this infrastructure to take customers off the network,” he said.

Agreeing with Teniola, Adeoye said deactivating million of subscribers in one fell swoop will not only hit the Q1 earnings of the operators next year, it will also affect cash flows to the Federation Account by way of Value Added Tax (VAT) imposed on voice calls and text messages.

The operators, acting under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said though it is aware of the pains  the directive will bring on the subscribers, it, however, pledged its readiness to comply with the directive.

Its Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, said it understood that the process would be inconvenient for subscribers.

ALTON said: “As an industry, we recognise the importance of a strong national identity system and the critical contribution it will make to the accelerated growth of our digital economy. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the role of digital communications, products and services even more important in our daily lives and it is a national challenge to ensure that the building blocks are in place to enable them to be provided safely and securely, to all.

“We are committed to working closely with all stakeholders to overcome this challenge and deliver an inclusive, value adding digital economy Nigeria can be proud of. We fully understand the vital role that we, as digital operators, have to play in this process and we are collectively committed to investing in the systems, processes and support structure that are required to enable it.

“In line with that, we wish to communicate our intention to fully comply with the two directives issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in the past week, and to work closely with them to overcome this challenge, together.

“We understand that this process will be inconvenient for subscribers, and we are committed to ensuring we provide the information and support that you will need to manage this transition.

“Our focus is on minimising the disruption that it will cause and as the delivery mechanisms are developed, we will provide further information. We continue to seek your cooperation and understanding as we work with the government in ensuring a reliable National Identity Ecosystem.”

ATCON President Ikechukwu Nnamani is, however, optimistic about the success of the directive. He said: “Operators will take steps to meet the requirements. If it turns out the two weeks is not enough, the operators can always provide evidence of what they have done so far and ask for extension. Once it is a reasonable request, the regulator will always listen.”

MTN CEO, Ferdi Moolman, who must have attended the meeting with the minister is, however, optimistic that the timeline will be extended. “All indications are that it would need to be extended, given the complexity and the size of the work that needs to be done,” he said.

MTN’s Chief Operating Officer, Mazen Mroue, said the group had been granted a licence to enrol customers on NIN on behalf of NIMC as well as verify their status at their service centres. He said the telco had placed an order for 14,000 biometric devices to capture enrolments that were expected to arrive in the coming two weeks.

“We have already been positioning and preparing for this process,” he said, adding that the order for the 14,000 devices pre-dated the latest directive.

Mroue said the 14,000 devices could complete four NIN registrations per hour per device, and in an eight-hour day all the 14,000 devices could capture 458,000 NIN enrolments daily.

“We will continue to engage with relevant authorities on the matter to establish the implementation process and timelines for execution. We will endeavour to ensure a seamless process to the benefit of our 75 million customers in Nigeria. We remain committed to contributing to Nigerian economy.”

Airtel said it has a verification and enrolment licence to register citizens in the ongoing NIN. programme. “Airtel is always seeking opportunities to cooperate and partner with the Nigerian government on initiatives that will make life easier and better for Nigerians. As a law-abiding and responsible corporate citizen, we are always ready to go the extra mile for our esteemed stakeholders and that is why we are pleased to partner with the Federal Government and NIMC on citizens’ registration exercise,” its CEO, Segun Ogunsanya said.

A subscriber, Efe Erazua, wondered why the government is deploying fire-brigade approach in important issues.

She said many people had tried without success to register for the NIN. According to her, when she visited the Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos secretariat to get it done, she met a sea of human heads while the council officials were also hostile.

“I got to the secretariat very early in the morning about 5.30am. The number they gave me was 120. What that meant is that people practically slept within the secretariat. My first attempt was met with rude shock because I was denied entry by local council officials.

“Someone directed me to the NIMC office in Alausa because the place appeared spacious enough. Getting into the premises was not an issue but the long queue was frightening. Then, it is either their server was down or there is one challenge or the other,” she said.

Operators on extortion spree?

Subscribers accused operators of taking advantage of the panic button activated by Pantami to extort them.

They said instead of paying N4 approved by the NCC for local short messages (SMS), the operators were deducting N20 for sending a generic code *346# to their NIN numbers.

One of them, Pius Ade, said he got the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code from a friend and decided to confirm its veracity.

He said the transaction was successful but wondered why he was charged N20. “But the NCC fixed local SMS charges at N4. Why should I be charged N20? When the government doesn’t think through policy, this is what happens. The operators are now taking advantage of the confusion to extort us. It is not good enough,” he said.

Another female subscriber ,who gave her name simply as Esther, said she did it thrice and she was charged N60. She said the first time she did it, the number appeared but disappeared shortly after before she could copy it out. “My telephone number is very important to me because it is my life. All my contacts, home and abroad, know the number. So, when I read in the newspapers that government would deactivate, in less than two weeks, my SIM because of NIN, I quickly tried to confirm it because I remembered I did the registration a long time ago and got a piece of paper. The time the costly message stays before disappearing is too short,” she said.

NCC, however, said the government had directed operators to stop deducting cash for the use of the facility.

Director, Public Affairs at NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, in response to an SMS on the issue, said: “The FG has since yesterday directed that the use of *346# by subscribers for NIN retrieval should be zero-rated. The N4 (N20) charge is no longer applicable and this is already being implemented by the service providers and NIMC.”

NIMC assures

NIMC has assured that there was no need for subscribers to panic over the two-week deadline for deactivation of SIM cards that are not linked with users’ NIN. It explained that adequate arrangements had been made to capture the data of 200 million Nigerians within the next five years.

It added that the steps taken so far to ensure that  subscribers have NIN in their SIM cards were meant to address the security challenges facing the country.

It also said the operators would be involved in the exercise.

NIMC spokesman, Mr. Kayode Adegoke, told The Nation that the government had approved licensing of over 200 institutions to carry out the enrolment “of citizens and legal residents into the NIDB on behalf of NIMC.”