2011: Politicians Comb for GSM Data, NCC Threatens Sanctions

Political office seekers have besieged some sim card registration centres in Lagos for data of potential voters, as they flag off hi-tech campaigns ahead of the 2011 general elections but issues of compromised details are resonating here and there with operators claiming ignorance, Nigeria CommunicationsWeek can now reveal.
But the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) said that data integrity is an integral part of the sim card registration exercise that it will not hesitate to wield the big stick on any operator.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek investigations however, revealed that some commissioned agents for the registration of new and old subscriber identification module (SIM) are actually divulging those details to politicians who in turn are using them for campaign purposes.
Last week, some first time users of some GSM services were shocked when they started receiving short message services (SMSes) shortly after activating their lines from some politicians soliciting for their votes in the forthcoming general elections.
Frank Uba, a marketing consultant, said that text messaging is the easiest, most effective way to get the word out about candidate or political party. 
 “GSM users are ubiquitous and hard to reach. That’s why text message marketing is such a great campaigning tool.  Almost every text message sent is delivered and read immediately.  Items of interest can be forwarded to friends, expanding the reach of mobile political campaign” he said.
Working with some unscrupulous registration agents, politicians collect subscribers’ details by tricking GSM users and intending registrants to write their numbers on pieces which were later passed use for political marketing.
The practice is widespread in Amuwo Odofin, Gbagada, Ikotun Egbe, Epe and some other remote parts of Lagos where registration agents capitalise on the laxity in the supervision of the exercise.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that the process of registering a sim card requires capturing of biometric details including pictures, fingerprints, residential/office address, valid identification, and the phone number.
Mr. Emma Otorkhine, public relation manager, Zain Nigeria, expressed doubts that a commissioned sim card registration agent could divulge subscribers information to politicians going by the system operators have put in place to monitor the exercise.
According to him, there are appointed supervisors from the operators to monitor the exercise to ensure that such agents are conforming to the terms in the legal agreement they signed with the operators.
It would be recalled that MTN Nigeria known for its high ethical standards had recently sacked some agents over corrupt practices.
Elsewhere, the NCC said, it will bring the full weight of the law on any operator found to have violated the rights of subscribers by releasing data of subscribers for any other purposes other than what it was meant for.
Mr. Reuben Mouka, spokesman of the commission urged Nigerians to report any abuse of the exercise to the commission.
He added that operators are expected to operate a full-proof data of bio-data of subscribers to enhance national security.
Nigeria CommunicationsWeek gathered that sim card registration was initiated primarily for security purposes, and mitigation of incidences of crime and criminalities, perpetrated through the use of phones especially kidnapping.
Not only will the scheme help in checking the incidence of mobile phone-assisted crimes, it will equally assist in identifying the sources of ill-motivated phone calls.
Some users of the GSM phone have thoroughly abused it. They have turned it into a weapon of terror. This abuse will be a lot easier to check if sims were registered.