The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is not at peace with the House of Representatives. The problem started just last week, when NCC failed to convince the legislators that it required a token sum of N6.1 billion to formalise all SIM cards by GSM users in Nigeria for security reasons.

NCC has been of the view that Nigerians have been using GSM phones to perpetrate heinous crimes, and it has been hamstrung along with other law enforcement agencies in tracking down the criminals. Of late, the success attained in the racket of kidnapping and armed robbery has roots in the effective use of GSM phones. Now, NCC says enough is enough.

By swinging into action, it concluded that the SIM card in every GSM phone must be properly incidental in a record book. That presupposes that your SIM card will, henceforth, carry your names, address, profession and other bio-data to be safely banked in sophisticated computers and for life too. Then, if you make a false move with your phone, you are a goner, unless you have the magic wand to block the information you had supplied to the operators about your being.

It was for that reason NCC resolved to saddle itself with the task of registering all old SIM cards in the country, and it needed a paltry of N6.1 billion for that. When that proposal reached the House members had no option than to scream their heads off at the mention of the figure of money so required.

Immediately, NCC became a subject of suspicion. Some members expressed words of envy for managers of NCC, contending that if that has been the way they have been tapping mouth-watering sums of money from the national treasury to perform menial jobs, then, each executive member of the commission must be billionaires.

To the NCC antagonists in the Lower House, the sum it required for registration of SIMs was not a token. Some members put the issue in context, and reasoned that the exact sum could be deployed into a meaningful productive sector, say agriculture and the effect in the next two years would be awesome. Some said the sum could be used to build a functional university to improve the lot of education in Nigeria. It could also be used to construct a model hospital with state-of-the-art equipments installed. That is what NCC intended to deploy into mere registration of SIM in the country.

When the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Shehu Gwandu, appeared before the legislators to defend the budget proposal by the commission a week ago, he talked very glibly about the necessity for SIM Card registration, saying the commission would need nothing less than the sum it proposed!

Then, he was cut short; Members asked him, “Pray, what is the business of NCC to register SIM cards? What then would the GSM providers be doing, since they have the wherewithal and the equipment to do so?

Members site examples from far lands, most especially Europe where you dare not operate a GSM phone without the operators tracking down all information that you could offer. Then, they began to smell rat.

On the day of presentation of NCC budget, members rose in unison to say no, no, no...Government will not release N6.1 billion for SIM Card registration. Then, one of the NCC officials, who were at the gallery, took to profuse sweating even under the chilly atmosphere that usuallycovers the entire Dome. It was a bad day for NCC.

The truth of the matter now is that the telecoms providers had long taken up the task of registering SIMs for their subscribers. If the government had ignorantly released the sum for NCC, which in turn would only do some abracadabra to give an impression that something close to SIM Card registration was going on, then, the real money would find its way into private pockets.

It is a reason the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), last week, told the world unabashedly that it required the sum of N72 million to compile the expected voter’s register!  How much would the INEC then require for conducting the 2010 general election?

Not too long ago, the INEC under Iwu requested for a paltry sum of N3 billion for the purpose of reviewing and updating the existing voter’s register. The opposition cried wolf and threatened to sue Iwu. Now, Professor Atahiru Jega is jumping the figure to N72 million. Analysts are begining to wonder whether Jega has caught the bug of money mongering.

Regrettably, Nigerians in high places seem to have lost respect for money, perhaps due to their exposure to tapping huge sums from the source. It is only in Nigeria that officials of government are rick in trillions without any concrete form of businesses traced to them.

It is for this reason that the National Assembly must be on standby for a new budget by the INEC to be presented for approval. The federal legislators, at least, have the right to review any budget brought to it for approval. If there is any time to save Nigeria from economic haemorrahge, it is now, since the country’s economy is showing signs of distress.