The All Progressives Congress (APC), South Africa Chapter, on Thursday praised the Federal Government for its policy of linking National Identification Number (NIN) with SIM cards of Nigerians.
Bola Babarinde, National Chairman of the chapter, in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos, said that the policy would address some security challenges facing the country.
Babarinde said that the issue of security was one which must be adequately addressed in order to bring an end to the nefarious activities of some criminals using mobile phones to perpetrate crimes.
“Kudos must be given to the Federal Government and the Nigerian Communications Commission for policies aimed at sanitising the sector as much as possible.
“This is a laudable policy as it would make it easier to trace the individuals who use their SIM cards for illegal and criminal activities,” he said.
Babarinde urged the government to ensure that the directive given to Nigerians to get their SIM cards linked did not bring hardship to them.
He said research had shown that even prior to the request to link the NIN to SIM cards, many individuals who needed their NIN for other purposes had been unable to register because of long queues.
Babarinde also noted that many Nigerians who completed their registration years ago were yet to be issued the physical cards by NIMC.
He said that the policy should not be an avenue to spread the Coronavirus.
Babarinde urged the government to approve the opening of more biometric registration centres for the NIN, to prevent overcrowding and the spread of COVID-19.
According to him, Nigerians in Diaspora are ready to help to develop modern ICT frameworks to aid the process of easier and faster registration.
The Federal Government had directed that NINs be integrated with SIM cards by telecommunications operators for address problems of insecurity and crimes. (NAN)