The yet to be resolved crisis between Federal Government and MTN Nigeria over non-registration of over 5.2 million SIM cards has prompted the amendment of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Act in the House of Representatives.
Report from the House Committee on Communications chaired Saheed Fijabi indicated that the unregistered SIM cards were used by members of the Boko Haram led to the death of over 10,000 Nigerians in the North-East region of the country.
Section 19 of the Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulations, a subsidiary legislation to the NCC Act, provides that any corporate entity that defaults in registering the SIM card is to pay penalty of N200,000 per SIM card.
Also, Section 20 (1) of Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulations 2011 states that: “Any licensee who activates or fails to deactivate a subscription medium in violation of any provision of these regulations is liable to a penalty of N200,000 for each unregistered but activated subscription medium.”
Peter Akpatason, sponsor of the two-page amendment bill, explained that the amendment was aimed at prohibiting sales of pre-registered SIM cards, falsely or illegally registered SIM cards and for related matters, with an imposition of stiffer sanction.
Section 2(2a, b) provides that “it shall be an offence under this Act for a person, individual or corporate body to: sell, display for sale, market, distribute, trade in a pre-registered SIM card except as prescribed by this Act or any regulation made under this Act or deliberately activate or register a SIM card with a false identity or the identity of a different person, with the intention of selling, displaying for sale, marketing, distribution, trading or any other purpose.
“Section 3 and 4 of the bill also empowers the Commission to regulate, arrest and prosecute any person, individual or corporate body, who contravenes the provisions of subsection 2 of the Act commits an offence and shall be liable on conviction to:
“In case of an individual, to a fine of N500,000 or a term of imprisonment not less than six months or both; or in case of a corporate body, to a fine of not less than N5 million or a term of imprisonment of not less than six months for the approving officer.”
In a related development, the House is expected to commence debate on the amendment of the NCC Act Cap. N97 Laws of the Federation Nigeria, 2004, as proposed by Nicholas Ossai.
The bill seeks to “provide for the regulation of unsolicited telephone communications from all communication industries in Nigeria, make provision for the promotion of online safety that will require internet service providers and mobile phone operators to provide a service that excludes adult content and fore related matters.”
It further seeks to substitute section 4(1) of the NCC principal Act, by providing that “the protection and promotion of interest of consumers against unsolicited telephone calls for direct marketing purposes and related purposes; unfair practice on matters relating to tariffs and charges and the availability of quality of communication service or facility” as well as “adult content in the services provided by the internet service providers.”
On the general regulation (section 149a), the amendment bill also empowers the Governing Board with the approval of the Minister to “regulate unsolicited telephone calls for direct marketing from communication industries, require internet service providers and mobile phone operators to provide services that excludes adult content and generally give full effect to the provisions of this bill.”
The interpretation of the adult content, refers to “means of Internet access that exposes nudity or contains pornography, harmful and offensive materials from which persons under age of 18 are protected,” while ‘online safety’ refers to safe and responsible use of the internet by children and young people on an electronic device.
