SERAP Wants NCC To Revoke ‘Unlawful’ Directive To Block Nigerians’ Phone Lines

A human rights organisation, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has asked the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, to without any further delay, revoke the unlawful directive to network providers to bar the phone lines of millions of Nigerians who have not linked their SIM cards to their National Identification Numbers (NINs).

The group equally prayed to the CEO to “restore the phone lines of these Nigerians, and to establish a mechanism for effective consultation to provide Nigerians who are yet to link their SIM cards to their NINs with the appropriate support and infrastructure and adequate time and opportunity to do so.”

It would be recalled that the Commission had ordered telecommunications companies to bar the phone lines of millions of citizens, including those who allegedly “did not submit a good NIN or didn’t get a cleared or verified NIN by February 28.”

But in its letter dated March 9, 2024, and signed by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the group, said, “The directive to the network providers to bar Nigerians who have not linked their SIM cards to their NINs is an appalling violation of citizens’ rights to freedom of expression, information, and privacy.

“No agency has the right to strip the citizens of their basic constitutional rights under the guise of failing to properly link their SIM cards with their NINs or failing to do so timeously.

“The blocking of phone lines of Nigerians must only be a last resort measure, and strictly in line with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], international human rights and due process safeguards.”

While insisting that the arbitrary barring of people’s phone lines is never a proportionate measure as it imposes disastrous consequences and severely hinders the effective enjoyment of economic, social, and cultural rights, as well as civil and political rights, SERAP maintained that blanket measures of barring the phone lines of millions of Nigerians are inconsistent and incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution and human rights treaties to which the country is a state party.

The group, therefore, threatened to embark on legal action within 7 days if the recommended measures were not taken.