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Published 21 May 2021
Human rights activist, Aisha Yesufu, says the data of Nigerians is not safe with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, who has a record of sympathising with terrorists.
Yesufu made this known on Friday in an exclusive interview with
The PUNCH. She was reacting to a directive by the Nigerian Communications Commission that Nigerians will have to submit the International Mobile Equipment Identity of their phones to the commission from July.
The IMEI number is a 15-digit number unique to each phone. With it, a phone can be tracked and located irrespective of the cellular number in it.
Punch Newspapers
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Published 21 May 2021
The call by the Nigerian Communications Commission for all Nigerians to submit the International Mobile Equipment Identity of their phones to the commission has evoked a lot of reactions.
While some claimed it was a violation of human rights, a few persons see it as an infringement of privacy, while others do not know much about their phone’s IMEI.
Well, here’s what you should know about your phone’s IMEI.
What is the IMEI number?
The IMEI number is a unique identification number that allows the registration of any mobile device.
The IMEI of a device thus enables a mobile telephone operator to identify it. With the IMEI number, the operator will be able to issue the authorization for the user to connect the phone to a mobile network.
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Nigerians have reacted with outrage after the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) said in a new report that it will collect the identification numbers of their phones.
The IMEI number allows phones to be tracked and monitored, and allows access to sensitive data of users.
The NCC said President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the compilation of IMEIs for all registered mobile phones before the end of July.
The disclosure was made in the NCC’s Revised National Policy for Sim Card Registration, released this week.
The policy said the “implementation of a Centralized Equipment Identity and Register (CEIR), otherwise known as Device Management System (DMS) will serve as a repository for keeping records of all registered mobile phones’ International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) and owners of such devices.”
Olumuyiwa Olowogboyega
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Two weeks after the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it had issued 54 million people their national identity numbers, it is in the process of deploying a Device Management System (DMS).
The NCC said in a statement, “To curtail the counterfeit mobile phone market, discourage mobile phone theft, enhance national security, protect consumer interest, increase revenue generation for the government, reduce the rate of kidnapping, mitigate the use of stolen phones for crime, and facilitate blocking or tracing of stolen mobile phones and other smart devices, one of the means to achieve this is through the deployment of Device Management System.”
IMEI: Why NCC want Nigerians to link dia phone IMEI number to dia mobile lines bbc.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from bbc.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.