NCC orders Nigerians to submit phone IDs, IMEIs from July

Obinwannem News NCC orders Nigerians to submit phone IDs, IMEIs from July

The Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) has said, every Nigerian mobile phone users would begin submitting their International Mobile Equipment Identity, IMEI, of their phones; so as to reduce the rate of crimes.

This information was released via the Commission’s Revised National Identity Policy for SIM card Registration.

The decision was ordered by the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd), directing the NCC, to commence the implementation of the Device Management System – a Centralized Equipment Identity Register

A portion of the policy said, “Accordingly, his Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, has directed that the Device Management System should be implemented within three months”.

The NCC said, “With the aim to curtail the counterfeit mobile phone market, discourage mobile phone theft, enhance national security, protect consumers interest, increase revenue generation for the government, reduce the rate of kidnapping, mitigate the use of stolen phones for crimes, and facilitate blocking or tracing of stolen mobile phones, and other smart devices, one of the means to achieve this is through, the deployment of Device Management System.

“The implementation of a centralized equipment identity register, otherwise known as Device Management System, will serve as a repository for keeping records of all registered mobile phones, internationally mobile equipment identity and owners of such devices.

“IMEIs, that have been reported either stolen or illegal will be shared through the DMS to all the operators and service providers”.

The IMEI number is literally the mobile phone finger print. It is a 15-digit number unique to each phone, with the IMEI number, a phone can either be tracked and located irrespective of the cellular in it.

According to an expert that helps the Nigerian Police to track stolen phones, on anonymity, said the IMEI of a phone enables you to track the phone.

“It allows us to track the phones information, people the phone calls each day, and the house address of the people that call on the phone.

The expert added, “I can’t disclose how the IMEI of a phone works. It is a sensitive information. Leaking the secrets helps the people stealing the phones bypass the information.

“Some people already try to change the IMEI of stole phones, but we know what to do to get the original one”.

“With this move, the NCC will have the IMEI numbers, NIN, and the mobile numbers of every Nigerian.”

Ijeoma Njoku reporting, Obinwannem News | May 21, 2021

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