President Muhammadu Buhari has granted some security agencies approval to access the database of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) in the course of carrying out their duties.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, in an interview with Nigerian journalists on the sidelines of LEAP 22, a technology event, currently holding in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The minister said his office, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has conveyed the presidential approval to the relevant security agencies.
He said the development would enhance security as it would help security operatives to go after kidnappers and other criminals.
Pantami said, “Some of the security institutions, based on the cybercrime law, are allowed to gain access to the database without coming to us because the database allows for lawful intercept. That lawful intercept was allowed in order to support our security agencies.
“Mr. President has given approval for them to do it, without even our intervention. So, with that approval, the NCC has conveyed that through my office to all the relevant institutions that the President has granted approval for.
“So, with it, they can gain access to the database even without our permission, and they have never complained to me, even for once. The only person that wrote a letter to me is the Minister of Defence, asking that we should try to finish the NIN-SIM policy on time.”
The NIMC currently houses the data of the over 73 million Nigerians who have linked their National Identity Number with their SIM.
Pantami, however, said the NIMC was still struggling with infrastructure, salary and welfare challenges, among others.
He said the government was struggling to pay salaries and implement measures to help the commission complete its job.
The minister said, “If you look at the circumstances, NIMC is doing very well. Before my coming, what NIMC captured was just about 40 million, but now over 73 million have been done. We have achieved over 30 million within one year, while 40 million was achieved from 2007 to 2020.
“Secondly, about NIN-SIM registration, the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the NIMC are not security institutions. We are a sector for economic development but we came up with the policy, because the priority of the government is security and it is a constitutional obligation of any government. It is in the 1999 Constitution as amended, Section 14 Subsection 2, Article B, it is our responsibility.”
Pantami, however, lamented that despite possessing a total of 73 million NINs, no security agency contacted the NCC to provide any information that might help in tracking down kidnappers in the last six months.
Pantami said, “I was in the Federal Executive Council media team presentation last week and these same questions were also asked.
“I said to them, this is what we have been doing for security and the EVC/CEO of the NCC was next to me, just like now, and I asked him if there was any time that any security institutions contacted the NCC to provide details of anyone of which he failed; he said ‘no’. He said it had never happened since I became a minister.
“Secondly, in the last six months, did they ever contact you to provide any information of which you failed to do so? He said ‘no’. So, in the last six months, no one contacted us.”
