The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it is the duty of the Nigeria Police Force, and not that of the telecom regulator to track bandits and kidnappers using the National Identification Numbers (NINs) of victims linked with their SIM cards.
NCC Director, Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, who was on a Channels Television morning programme (This Morning Brief) on Monday, said the objective of the NIN-SIM linkage is to make Nigerians have digital identity to tackle security challenges.
A former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had said security agents weren’t using the NIN to track kidnappers and other elements engaging in nefarious activities, a claim that has yet to be countered by any of the security agencies.
Asked why kidnappers weren’t tracked despite that they contact the families of their victims using phone numbers, Muoka said, “It’s difficult to begin to attend to the issue that bandits, for instance, use a phone of the victim to make calls to the family because there is nothing one can do about it except the security agencies find a way around it.
“This is the reason we are talking about NIN-SIM linkage because we are talking about the people using phones to have their identities to help security agencies track such calls.
“It is the duty of security agencies. We are only providing all the necessary information.”
Muoka said “It is the police that they (victims’ families) will apply to. From the rank of Deputy Police commissioner and below, they will be able to do the tracking.
“The essence of submitting these identities is to also assist the security agencies in fighting crimes. They may not tell you the number of crimes they have also resolved by use of well-identified individuals using phones.”
*Source: Channels TV
