Nigeria barred millions of mobile phone numbers this week as part of the Nigerian government’s policy to boost security amid an Islamist insurgency and a spate of kidnappings.
The country’s telecoms regulator had in December 2020 ordered mobile phone providers to add identification numbers – containing personal data identifying the user – to every SIM card registered in the country or block the SIMs,The NIN has subsequently become a precondition for accessing telecoms services as well as banking, immigration and other government services. Some 125 million SIM cards have reportedly been linked, with the remaining numbers set to ‘receive only’.
The proposals are included alongside other draft regulations which were published for public comment by the regulator in a proposal document at the end of March. “On activation of a mobile number on its network, a licensee must ensure that it collects and links the biometric data of the subscriber to the number. A licensee must ensure that, at all times, it has the current biometric data of an assigned mobile number,” the regulator said.
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