…AS EFCC WARNS AGAINST SALE OF IDENTITY
As Nigerians struggle in desperate bid to get their National Identification Number (NIN), ahead of the Federal Government’s deadline of February 19, 2021 for synchronization with their phone SIM cards, investigation has shown of some unscrupulous elements cashing in on the exercise to induce enrollees to sell their NIN for a fee.
The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, which disclosed this Thursday, in Abuja, consequently warned that it is not only illegal for Nigerians to sell their NIN, but also stand the risk of vicarious liability for any act of criminality linked to their NIN.
“In other words, they risk arrest and prosecution for any act of criminality linked to their NIN whether or not they are directly responsible for such crimes,” stresses Wilson Uwujaren, Head, Media and Publicity of the commission.
Uwujaren said: “The Commission warns members of the public against selling their NIN and to report anyone seeking to buy their NIN, to the nearest office of the EFCC or other law enforcement agencies.”
It would be recalled that the Federal Government had, on December 16, 2020, given Nigerians up till December 30, 2020 to synchronize their telephone SIM cards with their National Identification Number (NIN), without which their SIM cards will be blocked by their telecom carriers.
This, the government said, was to consolidate the achievements of last two years’ SIM registration audit and improve on the performance and sanity of the sector.
This directive came after an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in the communications sector convened by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami.
Part of the resolutions reached at the meeting include: affirmation of an earlier directive to totally suspend registration of new SIMs by all operators as well as operators to require all their subscribers to provide valid National Identification Number (NIN), to update their SIM registration records, after which all SIMs will be blocked from the networks. This was however, shifted forward to between January 19 and February 19 for different categories of subscribers./ SHARE THIS
• Tags: EFCC, NIN