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Corporate body, Director, Chief Executive Officer, Manager or Secretary liable to pay N200, 000 fine
Mobile network operators (MNOs) could pay up N200,000 as fine for failure to verify and validate biometric, National Identity Number (NIN), and other personal information of subscribers, according to a proposal by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
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The proposal is contained in the draft Registration of Telephone Subscribers 2021 and available on the telecom regulator’s website.
“A licensee who fails to verify and validate biometric, NIN and other personal information before activation is liable to a penalty of N200, 000 for each subscription medium in breach of these requirements,” the draft document reads.
The federal government last year December ordered MNOs to integrate all subscribers’ SIM cards their national Identity Number (NIN). So far, more than 60 million SIM cards have been integrated or less than 50% of existing active SIM cards.
The proposed regulation stipulates fine of N200, 000 per subscriber for any MNO that allow subscribers to make and receive calls, send and receive short message services and other range of services usually provided by such operators without first verifying the subscribers’ personal information, including NIN.
The section on Penalties (PART IV) list categories of offences and fine to include:
19.
(1) Any licensee who fails to capture, or who preregisters, register, deregister or transmit the details of any individual or corporate subscribers to the Central Database as specified in these Regulations or as may be stipulated from time to time by the Commission is liable to a penalty of N200,000.00 for each subscription medium.
(2) A licensee who activates any Subscription Medium without capturing, registering and transmitting the personal information to the Central Database commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine of N200,000.00 for each unregistered activated Subscription Medium.
(3) A Licensee who fails to verify and validate biometric, NIN and other personal information before activation is liable to a penalty of N200, 000 for each subscription medium in breach of these requirements,
20.
(1) Any licensee who activates or fails to deactivate a subscription medium in violation of any provision of these Regulations is liable to a penalty of N200,000.00 for each unregistered but activated subscription medium.
(2) Where the Commission is satisfied that a body corporate is culpable, the Director, Chief Executive Officer, Manager or Secretary shall also be liable to pay a fine of N200,000 unless, having regard to the nature of his functions in that capacity and to all the surrounding circumstances, he proves that:
(i) the offence was committed without his knowledge, consent or connivance; and
(ii) he took all reasonable precautions and exercised due diligence to prevent the commission of the breach.
