The House of Representatives passed through second reading, a bill to make the use of National Identity Number (NIN) mandatory in the registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards by all mobile telecommunication network operators.
Sponsored by Sergius Ogun, (PDP, Edo), the proposed legislation seeks to give legal backing to the Federal Government policy of linking SIM to NIN as a way of tackling insecurity in the country.
Leading the debate on the general principles of the bill, Ogun it will give legislative backing to the step taken by the executive, so as to carry the force of law and compel compliance.
He said the bill is a legislative contribution to the ongoing fight against the increasing cases of criminality in the country orchestrated by bandits, terrorists, internet fraudsters and armed robbers, who take advantage of easy access to telecom networks.
The lawmaker said by amending the NIMC Act to include registration of SIM cards with every subscriber’s NIN, it becomes easy to uncover the identity behind various criminal activities being carried out in the society.
“National identity management system is critical to the development of any economy. It provides a universal identification infrastructure for a country to access and confirm the identities of individuals residing in its territory for the purpose of economic planning, intelligence gathering and social development.
“All these will be difficult to achieve in the absence of a robust national identity management system. In recognition of the foregoing, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) was established in 2007, to create, manage, maintain and operate a unified National Identity Database for Nigeria.
“It is against this background that this bill is proposed, to include in the Act, a new paragraph requiring the use of National Identity Number in the registration of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards by all mobile telecommunication network operators with the Identity Management Commission.
“Clause two of the Bill provides as follows: Section 27 of the Principal Act is amended by inserting a new paragraph (k) after the subsisting paragraph (j) as follows: “(k) Registration of subscriber identity module (SIM) card by all mobile telecommunication network operators.
“No one in our present day society contests the fact that security has become a critical issue in our national life. This flows from the fact that Nigeria seems to have become a theatre of criminality, banditry, kidnapping and maiming of innocent citizens and yet the end seems not to be in sight,” Idem stated.