The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has deactivated about 2.2million improperly registered sim cards across telecommunication networks across Nigeria in its second phase of sim deactivation.
This was made known in a statement released by the commission’s Public Affairs Director Dr. Henry Nkemadu on behalf of the Executive Vice Chairman NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta.
The Commission’s EVC, Danbatta stated that the sim deactivation exercise was in line with one of the key agendas of President Muhammadu Buhari to strengthen the security of lives and property of all Nigerians. He also made known that the NCC had initiated the second phase of the sim deactivation following the ministerial directive given to that effect in September 2019.
Danbatta said, “We have since initiated the second phase of SIM deactivation based on the ministerial directive and as of today, we have completely deactivated the remaining 2.2 million lines on the networks.
“This is contrary to reports by a section of the media, suggesting that nothing has been done to the issue of improperly registered SIM cards. Following the September 2019 ministerial directive, however, the NCC, within a week, intensified efforts by reducing the number of improperly registered SIM cards from 9.2 million to 2.2 million,” he said as reported by Vanguard.
Nigeria’s Communication Minister, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami had set September 25th as the deadline for registration of all sim cards in the country, after which improperly registered sim cards would cease to exist in the country.
The Commission had gone on to reduce the number of improperly registered SIM cards from 9.2 million to 2.42 million during the first initiation of the sim deactivation.
Danbatta also said that the the NCC is putting a lot of effort to get rid of improperly registered SIM cards through various policy initiatives to make sure that all the over 184 million registered SIM cards across Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) networks had valid data that were traceable.
