The Executive Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),

Dr Eugene Juwah, has said that the commission is almost through with the harmonisation process of the data it and various telecoms operators gathered in the course of the nationwide SIM Card registration exercise in 2011.

He said the next step after the exercise it rounded off in September and still being carried on by telecoms operators was that of a 30-day general verification exercise which, he stated, would be automatic.  

While speaking in Lagos last week at the Jim Ovia’s week-long national youth IT empowerment programme and training, Dr Juwah stated that the verification would commence within a couple of weeks.

He also added that the National Identity Management Commission would be the final destination of all the data gathered.

“NIMC was part of the exercise from the beginning. It is supposed to run a central identity data registry, but it is not actually ready to be in possession of the data now. We will keep the data for them and when they are ready, they will have it,” he said.  

He also revealed that NCC would issue the first licence for number portability (NP) service in the first week of February, adding that the licensee would be given six months to build its infrastructure and two months to test run the service.

Number portability gives phone users the opportunity to move from a network to another if they are dissatisfied with the service it is offering without having to change their phone numbers. The same number-different network service can also be accessed if a subscriber is moving to a particular area where their original telecoms service provider does not have presence.

He gave September date for the proper commencement of the service.

He also mentioned that there were more solution options for the government to fight online financial crimes which is popularly known as “yahoo yahoo” in Nigeria.

“There are increasing solutions now: mails suspected to have originated from the criminals can now be blocked and they can be intercepted and dealt with in the space by removing them,” he stated, adding that the Federal Government was keen on participating in using the solutions.
 
He revealed that NCC had different programmes and spent a lot to improve digital access to young people to Nigeria. While stating that his presence at the training was an indication of the commission’s support for Jim Ovia Foundation’s vision, Dr Juwah stressed that “through USPF (Universal Service Provision Funds), “computers have distributed in schools across the country and over 500 students must have benefited from that”.