Sim Registration: MTN’s Reluctance Led to 10,000 Deaths- FG

MTN Nigeria, mobile phone giant fuelled the Islamist-led insurgency in Nigeria by failing to disconnect unregistered sim cards, according to President Muhammadu Buhari.

The President said that 10,000 lives of Nigerians were lost due to the delay in the registration of sim cards by MTN.

Buhari who spoke in a joint press conference with the visiting Mr. Jacob Zuma, South African president, at the presidential villa, Abuja was giving reason why the Nigeria National Communication (NCC), fined the network provider.

He said that this would be his first time to speak on the issue as the president of Nigeria adding “ I will personally as a president be making a public comment about it. The concern of the federal government is basically on the security and not the fine imposed on MTN. You know how the unregistered GSM are being used by terrorists.

“And between 2009 and today, at least 10,000 Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram. That was why NCC asked MTN, Glo and the rest of them to register GSM.

Boko Haram violence has left 17,000 dead and forced more than 2.6 million from their homes since 2009. Buhari announced in December the group was “technically” defeated but attacks continue.

It would be recalled that mobile phone operators in Nigeria were ordered to disconnect unregistered SIMs by mid-2015 on security grounds but MTN missed the deadline.

Last year, the country’s communications regulator slapped MTN with a $5,2 billion fine, which was reduced to $3.9-billion.

It has since paid out $250 million towards the penalty. MTN’s troubles in Nigeria has seen its profits falls by over 50 percent.

The issue cast a shadow over the build-up to the visit of President Jacob Zuma and was expected to have been high on the agenda when he met Buhari for talks in the capital, Abuja.