SERAP sets to drag FG to court over NIN SIM card, gives 7-ultimatum

By allcitynews.ng

Apparently dissatisfied with the way and manner Federal Government threatened to block SIM cards over NIN, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given the Buhari administration seven days to withdraw the threat or face court action.

The group said it will take legal actions after the seven days to make FG to withdraw the threat.

In a statement Sunday, SERAP urged President Muhammadu Buhari to “instruct the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami, and Director-General of the National Identity Management Commission, (NIMC) Mr Aliyu Abubakar to stop the push for registration of Nigerians for National Identity Number (NIN).

It also urged Buhari to instruct the officials to withdraw the threat to block SIM cards, as the data being sought already exist in several platforms, including the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), driver’s licence, international passport, and voters’ card.”

The organization also urged President Buhari “to instruct Mr Pantami and Mr Abubakar to take concrete measures to promptly ensure that the NIMC is able to faithfully and effectively discharge its statutory functions to harmonize and integrate existing identification databases in government agencies into the National Identity Database, and to use the information to update SIM card registration.”

It would be recalled that FG few days back threatened to block SIM cards of Nigerians, not linked with National Identity Number (NIN).