Nation
Comprehensive SIM Card Registration To Gulp N6.1bn
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is to spend about N6.1 billion on the first phase of its comprehensive SIM card registration nationwide.
Presenting the budget of the Commission before the House of Representatives Committee on Communications, the acting Vice President of NCC, Dr Bashir Gwandu, said it would capture the existing 70 million subscribers in all the networks in the first phase.
Gwandu said that due to the comprehensive aspect of the exercise, it would cost the commission N120 each to register the first 50 million subscribers.
He explained that the registration being planned would be a central data base that would capture the photograph, forensic finger print of an individual and serve as multipurpose.
Gwandu said once the budget was passed by the National Assembly, the commission would kick start the process, as all stakeholders had been fully mobilised for the exercise.
“SIM card registration project is meant to register all prepaid card subscribers in Nigeria in order to curb incidences of crime being committed through the use of prepaid cards,’’ he said.
Gwandu said the absence of subscriber-identification facility had far reaching security implications and was exploited by unscrupulous individuals to perpetrate crime and other illegal activities in the country.
He said NCC would partner with private sector solution providers in Private Public Partnership (PPP) arrangement to develop and deploy a secure, reliable, widely accepted and continuous SIM Card registration system.
He explained that the operators registration of sim card which commenced since May 1, was different from NCC’s wholesale registration as stipulated by the Act setting it up.
Gwandu said the commission intended to also use N300 million towards registration of handsets against phone theft and spend N500 million on ICT training programmes for youths in conjunction with the Ministry of Labour.
The NCC said it was projecting a revenue of N42.6 billion for 2010 out of which N9.7 billion would be recurrent expenditure while N23.8 billion is set aside for capital projects.
Gwandu added that the sum of N13.1 billion would be expended on Special Projects while N8.3 billion would be transferred to the Universal Service Provision Fund as against N14.8 billion that would be transferred to the Federal Government.
Earlier, Chairman of the Committee, Rep. Dave Salako said it was agreed that the registration should commence and end within six months of the passage of 2010 budget, so that Nigerians would enjoy the facility.
Salako said the registration of all sim by the regulators would go a long way to solve the security problems in the country especially the recent incessant kidnapping and robbery.
He expressed the opinion that the registration would equally solve the problems of statistics and correct data base for effective planning following the failure of national identity card projects.
Salako (PDP-Ogun), however, cautioned the commission to be prudent with its budget and ensure quick implementation of all its capital projects, to ensure even distribution of the facilities in the country.
Nation
Council Boss Impeached 48 Hours To LG Polls In Katsina
The Chairman of Malumfashi Local Government Council of Katsina State, Maharazu Dayi, has been impeached.
Maharazu Dayi was impeached yesterday by 11 out of 12 councillors, barely two days before the local government elections in the State.
The councillors reportedly took action following allegations of misconduct and poor governance against the chairman after a dispute over the distribution of the council’s Paris Club funds.
The development has sent shock waves across the local government area, especially as the impeached chairman is among those who failed to secure the ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) to contest in the forthcoming election.
Nation
Association Tasks Fubara On Rumuwoji Market Phase Three
The Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association, Mile 1, Port Harcourt, has urged the state government to utilise the available spaces within the area to build phase 3 of the Rumuwoji Market in order to solve the ever increasing needs of traders.
The association, which said this at a media briefing in Port Harcourt, also described as a welcomed development the decision by the state Governor to open the phase 2 of the market for business.
According to the association, “We consider it as an answer to the various cries of the people, because he is a man on a mission who is out to place the interest of Rivers people first. It is a dream come true for the first time for the market to be dully allocated and open for business”
Chairman of the association, Hon Godspower Wobo, who briefed the press shortly after a meeting of the association in Port Harcourt, also urged the public to disregard the activities of some persons whose stock in trade is to cause disaffection in the market.
He said the attention of the association was drawn to the activities of some strange fellows who went about misforming the people about situation in the market, stressing that apart from his association, no other group exists in the market except subdiary unions.
Wobo also tasked the reallocation committee to tread with caution so as to avoid being deceived by any group.
According to him, time has come for the state government to engage in robust discussion with aggrieved shop owners who went to court and those who paid monies to the state coffers and issued with allocation certificates for the overall interest of peace.
He also advised the public to deal directly with his association, stressing that the meeting was to review activities for the last year as well as unveil their new Constitution.
Also speaking, former Chairman of the association, Deacon Kenneth Eze urged the Rivers State Governor, Sir Siminalayi Fubara to open the phase 2 of the market, as it is long overdue.
Eze who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the association also urged the public to do business with only the Rumuwoji Ultra Modern Market Traders Association as it is the only union recognised by the traders.
Nation
AfDB President Denies 2027 Presidential Ambition
The President of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwunmi Adesina, has debunked reports linking him with the race for Nigeria’s presidency in 2027.
Reacting to the report on his X handle yesterday, following a recent interview with Arise TV, the AfDB boss said his quotes were misrepresented and misinterpreted in several Nigerian media reports.
However, the AfDB president denied the media reports, stating that he never said that he wanted to contest for President.
“A segment of my recent interview on @Arise TV has been both misinterpreted and misrepresented in several Nigerian media outlets. What I said was, “I will be available to serve in any capacity, globally, in Africa, anywhere, including my own country.”
“A listen to the substantive and robust interview, which is available online, will show this to be the case. For clarity and for the record, I did not say that I am running for the office of President of Nigeria,” Adesina said.
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