Well, now that the National Assembly has surreptituously passed the NCC budget with the controversial N6.1b for registering SIMs, it means that tax payers money will be used to register phone SIMs. Technically then, Nigerians are paying for their lines, their airtime and are now having to pay for their lines to be registered. This is outrageous. It is particularly annoying because the operators said they could register their own subscribers. Why is NCC so interested in blowing this money away. Why must we continue to waste money in this country? Clearly, this is another money for the boys. Shameful.

I don't think the issue is that the government wants to pay for the registration, I think the problem is that the contract is inflated. As I understand it, this exercise is going to be the base information for the national ID scheme. This is not about Sim card registration, it's about citizen registration.

The Nigerian government is embarking on the biometric capture of most of Nigeria, using what they know will make the people come out. If they say you cannot use your phone unless you register, then you will register. If they say all Nigerians should come out and register or else, most people would not bother.

It needs to be done by the government so the information captured will belong to them. If I am not mistaken, even the Telecoms companies are being paid N100 per user registered. Using third party companies makes it easier to negotiate their "cut". This does not change the fact that to truly claim ownership of the information, they need to pay for it.

jdoss:

I don't think the issue is that the government wants to pay for the registration, I think the problem is that the contract is inflated. As I understand it, this exercise is going to be the base information for the national ID scheme. This is not about Sim card registration, it's about citizen registration.

The Nigerian government is embarking on the biometric capture of most of Nigeria, using what they know will make the people come out. If they say you cannot use your phone unless you register, then you will register. If they say all Nigerians should come out and register or else, most people would not bother.

It needs to be done by the government so the information captured will belong to them. If I am not mistaken, even the Telecoms companies are being paid N100 per user registered. Using third party companies makes it easier to negotiate their "cut". This does not change the fact that to truly claim ownership of the information, they need to pay for it.

Yes, maybe the contract was inflated. It probably would be, considering that this is a government agency. My grouse is that a contract is even being awarded at all. There is absolutely no need for it. The operators said they can do the registration by themselves, and they are already doing it. Many people I know have registered their Sims. Why must NC insist on duplicating the process?
Let's say this is necessary because we want national ID etc, have they considered allowing the operators to acquire the needed data and using the might of government to compel them to share it? That would have cost a fraction of the N6.1b tax payers' money.

I would completely agree with you if I did not hear that the telecoms companies are getting paid for registering users. They have been involved in this process from the very beginning, and were part of the decision that the government should pay for the exercise. The choices were to charge the user N100, to have the government pay N100, or have the telcos pay for it. Based on where we are, you can see how that discussion ended.

What the Telcos are saying is "You(the government) should not allow these third party companies to access our info, We(the telcos) can do it ourselves and you can pay us." What most people are hearing is "We(the telcos) can do this ourselves, why is the government wasting money."

I have no Idea which option is best for the government, but I know no matter what that N6.1 Billion issue will still be there.

Trust the N A to endorse anything dat involves spending and greasing their pockets,while important bills like FOI and electoral act is in the bin