News
Over 90m SIM Card registrations are invalid, NCC discloses
BY: Oliseama Okwuchukwu
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is set to use the provisions of the Constitution bordering on national security and interests to prosecute anyone involve in fraudulently activating SIM cards.
The Commission is talking tough as statistics show that about 99 million out of over 155 million registered SIM Cards failed instituted and standardized subscribers registration processes.
“Section 148 of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 mandated the Commission to be guided by national interests and security in the execution of its mandate”.
NCC’s Director for Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Efosa Idehen, stated this in a paper titled: “Dangers of Dealing on Fraudulently Activated SIM Cards“, presented today in Port Harcourt at a Regional Sensitization Workshop focused on issues affecting Subscriber registration.
Idehen’s declaration underscores the centrality of security among factors underpinning the birth of Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulation of 2011. Thus, he appealed to “stakeholders in the SIM registration value-chain to place security above any other consideration”.
Earlier, NCC’s Executive Commissioner Stakeholder Management, Sunday Dare, in an address to the Workshop presented on his behalf by Idehen, stated that the telecom revolution generated security concerns, such as kidnappings that made SIM registration imperative.
Dare therefore urged stakeholders to avoid fraud and breaches in the processes of SIM registration and usage because of the dangerous implications for personal and national security.
The Principal Manager, Legal and Regulatory Services Department of NCC, June Nezianya, who made a presentation on the SIM card regulations, noted that subscribers information are protected but may be released to appropriate officers of law who may require them as part of the processee of law enforcement.
Similarly, the Senior Manager at the Commission’s Information Technology Department, Samuel Obianke, also made a presentation on the SIM registration backend, to explain to the audience the processes involved in cleansing the registration records before they are transmitted to the National Identity Management Commission – the agency of government vested with national identity management.
A Manager in the Project Department of NCC, Terese Saror, also revealed in his presentation on SIM registration and expectations from Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and agents, that about 155, 500,000 records of subscribers were processed since 2011 when the process started but only about 56,000,000 conformed to the instituted and standardized subscribers registration processes, thus rendering almost two-thirds of the records invalid.
The workshop, attended by a large, visibly enthusiastic group of stakeholders, was patently participatory and quite productive. In the closing remarks made by Salisu Abdu, Head of Enforcement at NCC, he thanked the participants for their active participation and emphasised the need for continuous collaboration among all stakeholders to ensure order in the telecom sector.
News
“80% Of Buildings In Lekki Have No Approval” – Lagos State Commissioner For Physical Planning & Urban Development Reveals
The Lagos State Commissioner for Physical Planning and Urban Development, Dr Oluyinka Olumide, has stated that 80 per cent of buildings in Ibeju Lekki have no approval.
Olumide disclosed this while speaking to newsmen recently.
In his words; “Just last week Thursday and Friday, myself and the team were in the Ibeju Lekki and Epe axis and you would agree with me that anybody passing through that corridor would see a lot of estates marked. We went there, and I can tell you that from what we saw, over 80 per cent of them do not have approval.
The procedure to get approval is first to get the planning information, as to what those areas have been zoned for. In this case, what we have is agricultural land, and people now go to their families to buy agricultural land. Of course, those lands would be sold because those families do not know the use such land would be put to.
The next thing to do is the fence permit. If you missed the earlier information on not knowing the area zoning, at the point of getting the fence permit, you would be able to detect what the area is zoned for. After that, the layout permits a large expense of land follows.”’
Olumide noted that a layout permit cannot be obtained if it is not zoned for the purpose it was designed for or for the purpose it was being requested.
“So, you can see all these layers, but people still go ahead to start advertising. Some have even gone to the extent of displaying the sizes they want to sell. Imagine someone in the diaspora who wants to send money without any knowledge. Then, no approval is eventually gotten. Even if they pass the assignment and the survey to them, we would not grant the individual permit, because that area is not zoned for that purpose’’ Olumide said
This partly explains why some of the houses are being turn down currently in the state.
News
Lady Dies After Friends Pushed Her Into Boiling Pot Of Fresh Pepper In Delta State
A Nigerian man identified as Israel Joe, has revealed how his friend, Roseline, died after she was pushed into a boiling pot of fresh pepper and tomatoes by her two female friends in Sapele, Delta State.
Joe stated that Roseline, a caterer, went on a trip with her friends to Sapele for a catering job where the bitter ordeal occured.
She tragically passed away on Saturday, April 13 after spending two weeks at the hospital in a very horrible state.
In a Facebook post on Friday, Joe said that before her untimely death, Roseline confided in him about two of her friends who were treating her coldly.
And he has vowed to bring them to justice.
This is such a heartbreaking event.
News
IPOB Declares May 30th As Sit-at-home Day Across The Southern East States To Honour Biafran Fallen Heroes
The Indigenous People of Biafra has declared May 30, 2024, as a sit-at-home day across the South-East to celebrate Biafran soldiers.
The pro-Biafran group said that day is set aside annually to celebrate the men and women who died in the Biafran war between 1967 and 1970 and beyond and even until now.
This was made known in a press statement by the group’s spokesman, Emma Powerful, on Thursday, adding that every Biafran in the South-East is expected to sit at home and reflect on the war.
He cautioned South-East residents to avoid loitering about on this day, adding that those who intend to travel to and fro Biafra land must do so before the evening of May 29.
The IPOB statement also directed that all the residents of “Biafra Land” are to stay indoors from 6 am to 6 pm on May 30, 2024.
He also called on christians and traditionalists to pray to Chukwu okike abiama for the fallen heroes, And also for the independence of Biafra from Nigeria.
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