By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Muhammadu Buhari wants Nigerians to submit this July their International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) to a Centralised Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) under the Communications and Digital Economy Ministry, headed by Isa Pantami.
Pantami is an overt sympathiser of Islamist jihadists and a Fulani supremacist, one of the henchmen advancing the cause of the president who sees Nigeria as his personal estate, breaks the law, and is mulling how to continue Northern rule.
Nigerians are wary of Buhari, particularly in the South, and not just the Igbos he targets in his hate speech and conduct.
A poll by PUNCH in May shows that 90.2 per cent of 12, 224 respondents said they would not submit their IMEI to the CEIR, only 9.2 per cent said they would.
IMEI is a 15-digit number unique to each mobile phone device. Phone carriers and manufacturers share IMEI numbers to enable tracking of smartphones that may be stolen or compromised.
TechPoint Africa recalls that in May, the ministry released a Revised National Identity Policy for SIM Registration that requires Nigerians to submit their IMEI numbers to a CEIR, also called Device Management System (DMS), to be managed by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC).
The ministry said the database would, among others, help
· Curtail counterfeiting mobile phones
· Discourage mobile phone theft
· Enhance national security
· Protect consumer interest
· Increase revenue for the treasury
· Reduce the rate of kidnapping
· Curtail the use of stolen phones for crime
· Facilitate blocking or tracing stolen phones and other devices
This builds on Abuja’s previous initiatives for digital identities.
In December 2020, the government asked Nigerians to obtain their National Identification Numbers (NINs) which led to a rush to get it before the deadline at the end of 2020.
The directive caused a massive uproar because it was in the heat of the pandemic, and the deadline was moved to February 2021. Since then, it has been moved six times.
Enrollment for the NIN has grown from 800 in December 2020 to 5,410 in June 2021 and the government has extended the deadline to July 26.
Implications of IMEI
IMEI is usually in the battery compartment of most phones but can also be got by dialling *#06#. With an IMEI number, a phone can be tracked and also used for identity theft as well as cloning a phone.
According to TechPoint, the IMEI Nigerians are required to submit to the CEIR is already part of data transmitted to a network operator when a telephone user makes a call, uses data, or sends a text.
IMEI is rarely used beyond providing details a phone needs to work. However, security operatives can use it to track theft or terrorist activity.
Countries such as Azerbaijan, India, Cambodia, Chile, Columbia, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Thailand, Turkey, and Lebanon have some form of this database.
The owner of a telephone can provide law enforcement agencies with the IMEI to track the phone if stolen.
While the reasons given by Abuja for the policy appears genuine at first glance, Nigerians are bothered about the ways the government can exploit the data.
An article on The Insider quoted by TechPoint details how Saudi Arabia uses IMEI numbers to track women who run away from abusive partners.
However, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) reports that using IMEI in the United Kingdom and Turkey helped reduce phone theft.
In Ukraine it increased legally imported mobile devices 95 per cent as well as revenues from imported mobile devices.
But according to TechPoint, some of the questions that should be asked include
· Are there safeguards in the absence of a comprehensive data protection law?
· Will the government be transparent about its use of IMEI?
· What happens in the case of violation?
The government has already mandated Nigerians to link their Subscriber Identification Module (SIMs) to their NINs, which provides a good database of the activities of citizens.
An IMEI data means the government also gets real-time location on anyone.
Nigerians promise to disregard IMEI directive
With Nigeria’s poor human rights record, citizens are suspicious of the motive behind this policy, especially as many accuse Pantami of having sympathy for terror groups like Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
A campaigner against police brutality, Segun Awosanya, popularly known by his Twitter handle name @segalink, said the directive will be disregarded.
“This madness ends here. It is actually lawful to disregard an unconscionable order that breaches the constitutionally protected rights and privacy of the citizenry. The alleged demand for citizens’ IMEI is an overreach that must be resisted by all and sundry. #EndImpunity,” he tweeted in May.
@ronaldnzimora said: “NIN + IMEI registration is a way for the Govt to track down and kill you when you disagree with them. Stop registering for it. Even if you did NIN, don’t ever do IMEI registration.”
@UNCLE_AJALA tweeted: “Isa Pantami has access to our NIN, now NCC is mandating Nigerians to submit IMEI of phones from July 2021.
“I hope FG won’t be mad if people don’t comply with the IMEI directive, because when people asked for the resignation of Isa Pantami for his extremism, FG didn’t comply.”