Nigerians on Friday expressed anger at the proposed plan by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to collect their phone identification numbers and the IMEI, citing privacy concerns and called on the government to immediately withdraw such directive.
According to the people, the directive cannot be justified under any circumstances, as it violates their rights to privacy and freedom of expression.
It will be recalled that this instruction is coming just months after the government mandated all citizens and residents to link their phone numbers to their National Identity Numbers.
The NCC disclosed this in the commission’s Revised National Policy for SIM card Registration released recently adding that the President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the compilation of IMEIs for all registered mobile phones before the end of July.
The IMEI number allows phones to be tracked and monitored, and allows access to sensitive data of users.
The policy said the “implementation of a Centralized Equipment Identity and Register (CEIR), otherwise known as Device Management System (DMS) will serve as a repository for keeping records of all registered mobile phones’ International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and owners of such devices.”
It said the “IMEIs that have been reported as either stolen or illegal; will be shared through the DMS to all the operators and service providers. The purpose is to ensure that such devices do not work even if different SIM Cards are inserted in those devices”.
“Accordingly, His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has directed that the Device Management System should be implemented within three months,” it added.
The IMEI can be submitted to the telecommunication agency and the agency obtain the digits via IPS of the phone without contacting the user.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, kicked against the directive describing it as illegal and a violation of the 1999 Constitution.
“Asking Nigerians to submit their Phone ID is illegal and unconstitutional.”
Recently, Mr Pantami’s appointment as Minister for Communications came under serious attack after his past extremist views became public, resulting in Nigerians calling for his dismissal.