The proposal by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to expend the sum of N6.4 billion for the registration of Mobile Phone SIM Cards in the country was on Thursday, 22nd July rejected by the House of Representatives.
The amount formed part of the N69.3 billion expenditure which the Commission plans to incure in the 2010 fiscal year.
Prior to the suspension of debate on the entire budget, some Honourable Members raised objection to the proposal and argued that the task of registering SIM card should be responsibility of the telecom operators and not the NCC. According to them, the funds being canvassed for the project was rather too much and therefore unjustifiable.
In an attempt to explain the reason for proposing the sum for the project, the Chairman, House Committee on Communications, Hon. Dave Salako, met with some opposition from members.
According to Salako, the Nigerian Communications Commission’s proposal was to provide a clear database of phone subscribers on the various networks operating in the country, pointing out that the initial idea was for the operators to register SIM cards linked to their individual networks. He said that the NCC offered to register existing SIM cards based on the complaints by the telecommunications firms that they lacked the necessary platform to do so, given the cost of procuring the basic equipment required to undertake the project.
Hon. Salako said that the House Committee conceded to the proposal at a tripartite meeting held with the NCC and the mobile phone operators, but remarked that operators would henceforth register every new SIM card allotted to phone subscribers.
