Barely 10 months after the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) made it mandatory for new applicants seeking International Passport must present their National Identity Number (NIN), secured from the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has adopted the provision as one of the key demands for registering new SIM cards in Nigeria.
This was the position of the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, at the recent third yearly conference of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) in Lagos.
Danbatta, represented by the Head, Online Media and Special Publication, Omoniyi Ibietan, said the condition become pertinent considering the intractable rise in urban criminality in parts of the country.
While stressing that the policy is in line with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2007 on NIN regulations, NCC boss revealed that strong collaboration is already in too gear with relevant stakeholders for seamless compliance.
Speaking more on the theme of the conference; ‘Economy, Security and National Development: The Way Forward,’ Prof Danbatta rolled out past and ongoing programmes the Commission has been doing in view of engendering security of lives and property for economic development in the country.
While revealing that the nation between July and August added 1.95 million new subscribers to its networks, Danbatta disclosed that “Today, the number of active telephone lines in the country is about 175 million, representing a tele-density of 91.65 per cent. The number of Internet users is 122.6 million, while broadband penetration currently stands at 35 per cent. The cumulative investment profile in the sector is over $70 billion.
Prof Danbatta argued that “At 11.39 per cent contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the telecoms sub-sector remains a major factor in the national economy,” noting further that “As at the second quarter of 2019, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector’s contribution to the GDP was 13.88 per cent.”
