“Let us imagine that Nigerians out of fear of losing their numbers rush to get the required National Identity Numbers (NIN) in the next few days, what do you see when you close your eyes? Queues upon queues and chaos? You are wrong, this December 2020, what you are actually seeing is a fluid and flourishing Coronavirus distribution network. Death by SIM card caused by nonsensical nuisance. Let us imagine that people care about their lives, take health waring seriously and ignore this ultimatum. Then we shall wake up one morning in less than two-week’s time to see many blocked sim cards in Nigeria.”
The author of the above quote which is excerpted from the essay “NCC’s Ultimatum is a Nonsensical Nuisance Taken Too Far” has pretended that the entire nonsensical directive is the making of the telecom regulator.
Pretense because even though the signatory to the Press Release on the subject sits within the Commission, he took pains to explain that this is not a regulatory intervention but a ministerial directive.
The NCC whose enabling law does not allow for such interference from any quarters including the Federal Ministry of Communication seems to be at the end of an absolute and irresponsible interference in discharging its mandate.
To say legislators have not responded will also not be correct because they had already taken a motion and a resolution on the subject. The Lower House, last Wednesday, called on the NCC to give 10 weeks to enable Nigerians meet with the instruction of submitting their NIN to service providers and not the two weeks given. But that was on the face that we are dealing with a genuine regulatory intervention which the matter is not.
It will also be wrong to say nobody saw this kind of “nonsensical nuisance” coming because it might mean the person was not listening when I resigned my appointment as Chairman of the Digital Bridge Institute in February 2020.
Going by the totality of our recent history, the problem Nigeria truly has now is that the year 2023 is quite a long way away.
The full story “NCC’s Ultimatum is a Nonsensical Nuisance Taken Too Far” is available at
https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/12/18/nccs-ultimatum-is-a-nonsensical-nuisance-taken-too-far/
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For further reading;
Is this cankerworm ALSO in our DNA? https://titiomoettu.com.ng/blog/is-this-also-in-our-dna/
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