From Amos Mathew, Kaduna
The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) are working with the security operatives to nab some people who are good at registering their SIM wrongly and multiple registration for criminal activities, the NCC,’s Director of Zonal Operations, Amina Shehu has said.
Speaking addressing journalists at the ongoing Kaduna International Trade Fair, the Director said NCC as a regulator was doing so much with regards to the security of lives and property of all Nigerians.
“We are doing all we can with the security operatives to ensure that we assist in ensuring that they are caught and when they are, we hand them over to the security operatives.
” We don’t have the mandate to effect arrest, ours is to ensure that registration of SIM card were done, we ensure that we do the enforcement to nab those Involve in criminal activities and hand them over to the security operatives”.
According to her, ” one of the fundamental things that we are doing is the SIM card registration of which I’m sure all of us are aware of. I want to believe that all of us here might have registered SIM card.
“This is because it is the SIM card you use to make the call .It is not phone, your hand set. A SIMcard is registered if you have your name, your details. If you are captured that is one of the crucial things that we are doing to assist the security operatives in trying to nab all these evil perpetrators.”
“Well of course,you also understand that there are laws on the registration of SIM card..We have a department in the organization called compliance, monitoring and enforcement.That department is actually for enforcement and making sure that all networks or individuals that don’t register,or they register wrongly particularly if you register with an intent to perpetrate any of these once we get hold of them.we do the needful.We work with the security operatives”.
“Because we don’t have the mandate to do what the security operatives are doing.We do effective collaboration and partnership with the security operatives to nab some of these people who register wrongly, some do multiple registration most of those who would’ve done that,would’ve done it may be ,with a bad intent”
“We work with the security operatives to ensure that we assist in ensuring that they are caught and when they are,we hand them over to the security operatives. It is not within our mandate to do that ours is to ensure that ..registration of SIMcard were done we ensure that we do the enforcement to nab them ,to get them…hand them to the security operatives”.
Answering question why there are pre-registered SIMCARD in the markets,she said, “Well, we are aware about all that we made mention that we have zonal officers across the country where we make effective use of our zonal offices our staff are on ground, they are on hand, their ears are down to hear any of such areas where SIMCARDS are sold they go there and they work with the security operatives to ensure that these people are caught.”