Inside Story of How SIM Card Vendors Sell Pre-registered Cards to Customers
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SIM Card vendors sell pre-registered cards to customers at N2000 in most cities in Nigeria
Torizone reporter went undercover to find out how these unscrupulous vendors carry out the illicit act
NCC warns against the act, set to punish offenders if convicted
In 2020, the National Communication Commission, NCC gave directive to all the network providers in Nigeria like MTN, Glo, 9mobile and Airtel to block all the SIM cards of their subscribers who have not linked their National Identity Number, NIN.
According to the directive, operators will have to require all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update SIM registration records; The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks from Wednesday, December 16, 2020 and end by December 30, 2020.
"After the deadline, all SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks; A Ministerial Task Force comprising the minister and all the CEOs among others, as members are to monitor compliance by all networks; Violations of the directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license."
The then minister therefore urged the general public to ensure that their NINs are captured in their SIM registration data.
However, after the said the directive, it became a thug of war to obtain the said NIN as all the registration centres in the country in all the local government areas were said to be jam packed with individuals who wanted to beat the deadline.
Torizone gathered that even with the decentralization of the registration to private sector, it was still a tough task to do the registration.
By and large, few years after the deadline which continued to be postponed, tens of millions of SIM cards were either blocked, barred and retrieved by these network operators.
In any case, our reporter gathered till this moment, many Nigerians are yet to register their NIN more especially as many centres charge as high as N7,000, N8,000 and even N10,000 to do the registration.
Torizone equally gathered that hundreds of thousands of Nigerians who did the registration still have lingering issues which have to do with error of spelling of names or date of birth during the registration; a situation that has made them unable to link their SIM card with their NIN.
Nevertheless, in the midst of all these confusion and errors, many SIM card registration officials in Enugu state have cashed in on it, selling registered SIM cards to new customers or old customers whose SIM cards have been barred or retrieved by their network operators due to their inability to do the needful.
Our reporter visits the registration centres
Torizone reporter paid a visit to some of the road registration official in Enugu state. The visit was precipitated by a startling discovery that some of the SIM card registration centres sell already pre-registered cards to customers who are still finding it difficult to register their NIN or sort out discrepancies in their registration.
This was confirmed by our reporter when he answered a call through Truecaller app and discovered that the name that appeared was quite different from the caller's name. Upon enquiry, the caller told our reporter that she bought the pre-registered SIM because of the issue she had with her NIN.
Nevertheless, pretending to buy a new SIM card, our reporter visited some of the vendors at Nsukka at their popular place along Enugu road, Nsukka.
"Brother, you want new SIM card?, the vendor enquired.
"Yes. How much?, our reporter enquired.
"Do you have NIN?, the vendor enquired.
Searching his pocket frantically, our reporter answered, " It seems I have left it at home."
"Don't worry. It will only cost you additional N1000", the vendor replied.
"How? I don't understand."
"We have pre-registered SIMS which we sell at N2000 each irrespective of any network. But if you have your NIN, it will be N1000. So, which one do you prefer?
Pretending to be lost in thought, the vendor left our reporter in search of other customers who by then were already trooping in for service.
Not convinced with her response our reporter left vendor and went to another one in the same along Enugu road, Nsukka, Enugu state.
This time around, he was with the vendors carrying out the registration inside a service provider customized umbrella. There were about three customers being attended to when he got to the vendor.
"Brother good afternoon. You want to do welcome back?, the vendor greeted.
"No. I want to buy new SIM card. How much do you sell?, our reporter asked.
"Do you have your NIN?, the vendor enquired.
"Yes," our reporter answered, brandishing his NIN slip.
"N1000", she answered.
"But why did you ask if I have NIN? Can one register SIM card without NIN?, our reporter asked.
"Some buy registered SIM card. If you don't have NIN slip, we sell registered SIM cards at N2000 each. But if you NIN, we will do registration for N1000."
However, when the other three customers left their registration and welcome back activation, our reporter sought to know from the official if the network providers know that they sell registered SIM cards.
"Why do you want to know, are you a policeman or what?, the vendor asked.
"No. Do I look like a policeman?, our reporter asked.
"I don't know oooo. To answer your question, the network providers don't know. We do it to help our people who don't have NIN."
On how they get the NIN, the vendor declined to tell our reporter, saying it is none of his business. For about thirty minutes he stayed with the vendor, she has sold about four pre-registered SIM cards of different network providers to customers who came looking for them.
In any case, when our reporter gave the vendor his NIN for the SIM card registration, she wanted to snap it with her smart phone which our reporter refused and snatched the slip from her.
This infuriated her but there was nothing she could do other than to murmur and show annoyance.
However, after registration she asked our reporter to call his NIN again when he refused, asking her if she has not finished the registration exercise. She kept on murmuring and started quarreling why our reporter could not allow her duplicate his NIN.
The refusal by our reporter to duplicate his NIN was necessitated by the discovery that some of the SIM registration officials use the said duplicated NIN slip to register SIM cards which they sell to other customers at N2000. The consequences of such manipulation are better imagined than experienced.
Investigation by our reporter showed that while some Nigerians willfully "sell" their NIN slips to these registration officials, others have their NIN unknowingly "stolen" by these vendors during SIM registration.
Further checks showed that during registration, some of these corrupt vendors usually input subscriber's NIN in their registration devices, save them and use them after the customers might have left.
One of the subscribers who spoke to our reporter under the condition of anonymity explained that "after I lost my phone to criminals on my way to Onitsha, Anambra state, I did a welcome back here in Nsukka, along Enugu road in one of these vendors. After the welcome exercise, I was notified by the network that my SIM has been successfully linked to my NIN. The network provider listed about three other numbers which were linked to my NIN.
"Surprisingly, I don't know those phone numbers and I don't know who their owners are."
Asked what he did to deactivate them, the source told WITHIN NIGERIA that " I went to the network provider and notified them and I don't know whether they have removed them as they promised me."
Our reporter visits network providers
When our reporter visited two of the network providers in the area to know their reaction on the development, none of their managers were available to confirm or react to the ugly situation.
NCC and pre-registered cards
Under the current regulatory framework, the sale or use of a pre-registered SIM card carries a fine, jail term, or both.
For a telecom company, each pre-registered SIM card attracts a penalty of N200m and for a user, imprisonment.
These penalties were introduced as part of the Federal Government's efforts to ensure proper identification of SIM card users, thereby aiding in the fight against crimes such as kidnapping, fraud and terrorism, which often rely on untraceable phone numbers.
However, findings by Torizone showed that since the enactment of this Act, no vendor has been arrested or convicted by any law in Nigeria for over half a decade now over the contravention of the Act even as this illicit act has continued to fester unabated throughout the federation.
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