After surviving a routing bout with the National Assembly over its N6.1b budget for SIM card registration, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has taken a first short at the registration.

CHAMS MD, Mr Demola Aladekola & EVC NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah

The bout, orchestrated by the refusal of some members of the House of Representatives to endorse the budget, nearly scuttled the NCC’s plans to spearhead and supervise the registration of the existing GSM subscribers in the country.

However, last Monday the commission may have kick-started the exercise, with the contracting of seven companies including well known Nigerian ICT companies, Chams Plc and PNN, among five others, to commence the registration across the six geo political zones of the country.

The firms also included SW Global, which will cover the South East areas of Anambra, Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi, and Imo states; PNN, which would cover North Central areas of Abuja, Plateau, Benue, Niger, Kogi, Kwara and Nassarawa; Chams which will cover the Lagos area; and JKK, which will take care of the South West areas of Oyo, Osun, Ogun, Ekiti and Ondo states.

Others are, DATAGROUPIT, for North East areas of Yobe, Borno, Gombe, Bauchi, Adamawa and Taraba states; EAGLE/CBC, for North West areas of Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Kano and Jigawa states; and E-Kenneth/SageMetrics, to cover South South areas of Cross River, Delta, Edo, Akwa Ibom, Rivers and Bayelsa states.

Registration of SIM cards in Nigeria first became a tug of war between the commission and the telecom operators. While the regulator was thinking of stemming the tide of mobile phone related crimes, including kidnaping, with the exercise, reports said the operators were afraid that the level of income they generate from direct sales of SIM cards from street to street and in busy market places, would greatly reduce with the registration.

However, a stakeholders consultative forum was called to resolve the problem and according to some participants at the meeting, it was resolved that Operators be allowed to register new entrants, while the commission handles the existing subscribers due to the amount of money and some technicalities involved.

Incidentally, by registering the new entrants, the operators were also seen delving into registration of existing SIMs, trailing questions of why would Nigeria spend much more money in registering existing subscribers if operators can do both in one fell swoop.

Yet, the refusal of some members of the House of Representatives from endorsing the budget, describing it as outrageous did not help matters. Thus, the exercise slated for, latest May, last year, lingers till now.

But the signing of the contracts in Abuja, Monday, has perhaps, marked the beginning of the highly expected NCC driven SIM Card registration process which caused a lot of furore before the National Assembly passed the N6.1b budget mapped out for its execution.

Speaking at the brief contract signing ceremony, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, charged the contracting partners to handle the project with all seriousness and commitment to make it a worthwhile Nigerian project.

He added that “as we sign this contract I will appeal to everyone involved in it to handle it with all seriousness. Let us try to do it because of what we are facing today; let us try to do it not only because of the controversy but also because good execution of the contract will make Nigerians happy. This agreement is not only for the NCC or the Nigerian Security Services but for Nigerians and the entire country”.

Juwah said he had confidence in the process that selected the contractors and urged them to execute the contract with dispatch.

On behalf of the contractors, Chief executive Officer of CBC, Mr. Folunso Falaye, admitted that there were a lot to ensure that the project was executed properly, adding that “ we the contractors and the NCC are partners in the same boat and we will deliver together.”

Meanwhile, Head, Project Office, NCC, Mr. Abdullahi Maikano also reminded the contractors of the 6-month window for the contract and charged them to work according to schedule.

The SIM Card Registration project is coordinated by KPMG, an international professional services firm with a member firm in Nigeria. The firm was engaged to provide overall end-to-end project management coordination of the exercise.

If the commission finally gets its acts right in this exercise, it means that while every mobile phone owner in Nigeria is known by all identifications, authorised SIM card dealers, must also get security details of every buyer and forward such details to the operating company who must register the details against the SIM card before activating it.

More interestingly, it would mean that if there is a threat call from a particular SIM card number for instance, chances are that the identity of the owner of the phone could be traced since his or her identity details including name, age, e- Passports; Corporate/Company or Work Place Identity Cards; Student ID Cards from recognised institutions; Drivers License issued by the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC; and E-Tax Cards were obtained before activation.