The Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, has urged consumers and members of the public to alert security agencies if they come across any individual engaging in the sale, or use of preregistered SIM cards, as they pose a serious danger to individuals and collective safety.
Speaking at the NDC special day at the just concluded Lagos International Trade Fair, the Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta, who was represented by the Head of Public Relations, NCC, Mr. Reuben Muoka, said those found culpable also risk severe penalties of fine and imprisonment.
“We have also sent serious warnings to the service providers to ensure that their dealers and sub-dealers, who have a role to play in the sale and activation of services, are not culpable in the penetration of this crime. Our Compliances Monitoring and Enforcement Department currently going round the country with a view to fishing out the perpetrators” he said.
According to him, the commission will not relent in speaking about vandalization, or willful disruption of telecommunications services as these activities has not helped in the improvement of quality of services in the network.
“Also stoppage or obstruction of service providers from deployment of equipment or maintenance at the base stations further degrades quality of services. Activities of local governments, landlords and communities, sometimes contribute to degradation of services as they refuse right of way to the service providers”
“We urge you to carry this information to our neighbours and communities to the effect that we have a very sensitive network where disruption of service in a location can affect services beyond that location and to far-flung areas.
These are some of the factors that contribute to poor quality of service which the commission is working hard to improve” he said
What in God’s name is wrong with this our government. Is selling pre-registered sim the crime to be tackled or that all telecommunication companies should harmonize records/bio-data they have being collecting. If you buy sim today you will register it. But another one you will go through the same process separately. When is the record of the past sim purchased going to be harmonized with the recent one being purchased. They take bio-data all the time why do we like having disjointed records?
If at time of registering new sim(s) you make the person realize that he or she had registers so and so numbers of sim in the past he will be cautious.