Nigerian President Muhammadu Bukhari has instructed the Nigerian Communications Commission to collect international Mobile Equipment identity (IMEI) from citizens within three months.
Buhari’s policy to the NCC is included in the revised National Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration. According to Bukhari, the directive must be fully implemented by the end of July 2021.
The guidelines state that the implementation of the Centralized Equipment Identity Register (CEIR), also known as the Device Management System (DMS), is the repository of records for all “International Mobile Equipment Identification (IMEI)” registered mobile phones and the owners of such devices.
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The revised national identity guidelines for SIM card registration contain information on how the government wants to achieve the security of the digital space.
“IMEIs that are reported stolen or illegal are forwarded to all operators and service providers via DMS,” the guideline states. Its purpose is to ensure that the device does not work, even if a different SIM card is inserted in this device.
DMS also offers all carriers access to check IMEI and its status before devices become active on their network. Additionally, registered mobile technicians receive an interface for
Check the IMEI and make sure it is not reported as stolen or illegal before providing your technical services.
To achieve this, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will be responsible for implementing and managing DMS to achieve policy objectives.
“Therefore, His Excellency President Muhammadu Bukhari, the GCFR has ordered that the device management system be implemented within three months.”
Why collect phone IDs?
With the emergence of the new policy, Nigerians are quite obscure about the purpose of the directive. There are those who believe the reasons for filing are the same as the National Identity Management Number (NIN) conducted by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
According to the directive, one of the government’s goals is to register and record the IMEIs of all mobile phones and other smart devices on the DMS, which serves as a warehouse for exchanging stolen device data across all networks.
To ensure that all unregistered devices do not work on any network in Nigeria and to ensure that all reported IMEIs for stolen and illegal phones and other smart devices are blacklisted and shared with all operators on all networks.
Although the government has not announced how it will implement the policy over the next three months, Nigerians are not yet convinced of the policies of the Minister of Communications and the Digital Economy, Ali Isa Pantami.
