Between SIM Card Registration and Crime Reduction

Sim Cards

Emma Okonji writes on the importance of SIM card registration and other technology devices in addressing the ever increasing crime rate in the country

When the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), embarked on Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration exercise in March 2011, not many Nigerians knew why it had to do so, being a telecoms regulator. There were several criticisms as to why NCC should be involved in SIM card registration, but the commission decided not to be distracted by its critics and went ahead to recruit consultants for the exercise.

Although the SIM registration exercise is on-going, several crimes carried out in secret have been uncovered by the police through registered SIM cards.

NCC’s Involvement

According to NCC, the commission was involved in SIM registration exercise because of the increasing rate of crimes and kidnappings in the country. Fraudsters used the mobile phones as means of communication in perpetuating crimes and to collect ransom from families of victims that were kidnapped.

Another reason why NCC embarked on SIM registration, was to develop a central data management system of all telecoms subscribers, to enable security agents make use of such data in fighting crimes.

Appearing before the defunct House Committee on Communications in Abuja in July 2010, Executive Commissioner, NCC, Bashir Gwandu, argued, quite convincingly, that the lack of subscriber identification database had far-reaching security implications and was being exploited by unscrupulous individuals to perpetrate crime and related illegal activities in the country.
 
Gains of SIM Registration

The push by NCC for SIM registration is beginning to pay off, as the advantages of the exercise are gradually coming to the fore, especially in unravelling criminal cases. Such was the case of Cynthia Osokogu, the daughter of a retired Major General Osokogu, who was murdered in a hotel in Festac Town, Lagos recently.

The police paraded two suspects, Echezona Nwabufor, 33, and Ezekiel Nnechuwu Olisa Eloka, 23, for allegedly killing Cynthia. Both suspects confessed to the killing of the young woman.
They confessed killing her with the intention of stealing her money, only to realise she hadn’t any cash on her.

According to the suspects; “We met her on the Facebook on our Blackberry. We invited her to come to Lagos to buy goods at cheap prices. When she got to Lagos, we took her to a hotel in Festac. We thought she had a lot of money, but she said she didn’t have any money. We gave her Reflon tablet in her Ribena drink. After this, we slept with her for 12 hours in that hotel. We discovered that the tablet did not work quickly on her. We then attacked her, tied her up and used cello tape to cover her mouth. After that, we beat her to tell us where she kept the money. When we didn’t get any money from her, we tied her mouth and strangled her and then we abandoned her in the hotel and fled.”

The victim and her alleged killers became friends on Facebook, and they saw opportunity to attack and steal money from her when she told them she was coming to Lagos for shopping.

The suspects perpetuated the crime in secret, but they were exposed through their registered SIM cards with which they had conversation with the hotel attendant and the deceased.

According to the Lagos State commissioner of Police, Umar Abubakar Manko, the suspects were nabbed by detectives who used the Close Circuit TV (CCTV) footage provided by the hotel where the alleged crime took place.

Also used were the call logs which revealed the exchange of phone calls and messages between both suspects and Cynthia, their victim. This was where the registered SIM cards came to fruition, because it would not have been possible to trace them through their call logs, and text messages exchanges, if they did not register their SIM cards. THISDAY gathered that their photos, which were captured during SIM registration and other biometric information captured at registration, information provided at registration, helped the police in tracing and arresting Cynthia’s killers.
The matter had since been charged to court.

Before now, Nigerians have hailed NCC for its initiative on SIM registration, but they are presently worried that the exercise is yet to be concluded, one year after the expiration of the initial six months target set by NCC to complete SIM registration across the country.

Subscribers’ Experience

Commenting on the usefulness of SIM registration, Jide Oluwaseun, a subscriber to MTN network, said there would be no hiding place for criminals, if all phone owners were compelled by law to register their SIMs. Narrating his experience he said he was shocked when he called MTN customer care line on 180 and one of the call centre operators called him by his name while exchanging pleasantries with him on phone.

“The voice, which is a lady’s voice, said to me Jide how are you and I was shocked as to how she got to know my name. Upon asking questions how she knew my name without seeing me face to face, the lady laughed at me and reminded me that my particulars displayed on their screen when I called and that she has all my details because I have registered my SIM. Immediately after my conversation with her, I told myself that I could be easily caught if I were to be a criminal,” Jide said.

He however frowned at instances where people sell pre-registered SIM cards on the streets and market places, but NCC is aware of the development and its monitoring team has made several arrests in some states of the country.

Another subscriber to Airtel, Samson Onuoha told THISDAY that SIM card registration had helped to curtail criminal activities in the country, but explained that most criminal do not give true information on of themselves and their addresses, even though their photographs have been captured, which he said would make it difficult to trace such people when they commit crime. He called on NCC to insist on true information of phone users before they are registered by the operators.

With series of arrests made over pre-registered SIM cards and some taken to court already, an NCC source informed that the commission was on the trail of some big distributors of telecoms operators who are behind the sale of pre-registered SIM cards.

The source hinted that sales of pre-registered SIMs were possible because of the loophole, which existed in the process adopted by some registration agents to activate registered SIMs. The agents were being paid based on the number of SIMs registered, and the agents seem to have capitalised on the loophole in the registration process by simply registering as many SIMs as possible and selling them to unsuspecting Nigerians as “Active SIMs”.

But the Commission in an advertorial warned of the dire consequences for those engaged in pre-registering, selling or purchase of such new SIM cards which include arrest, detention, investigation, sanction and prosecution in accordance with the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 and the Regulations for the Registration of Telephone Subscribers 2011.

Expert Views

According to a Lagos based Lawyer, Simeon Okeke, the advantages of SIM card registration have been severally canvassed in many quarters. He said “In a country where security is a major concern, SIM card registration becomes important, but I became worried that Nigeria has no data centre where the true identity of people could be crosschecked or verified, even when criminals are caught.”

“After reading the recent submissions of the NCC by its Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Eugene Juwah, at the recent probe of the N6.1 billion SIM card registration exercise, one would not but conclude that Nigeria is on the right course,” he said, adding that Nigerians should collectively give the commission the chance to complete the SIM card registration process.

According to Okeke, it is evident that SIM card registration will assist in fighting crimes in the country, but insisted it would not eliminate crime in its entirety.

Citing countries like South Africa, Canada, and Germany, where SIM registration has been successfully carried out, he said that crime still thrived in such countries, but explained that the importance of SIM registration would go a long way in addressing crime rates in the country.