BVN, SIM Registration et al: Towards an information based Society

It is commendable that the government through some of its agencies decided to get basic information of the most part of the citizenry through some of the most widely used services: communication and banking. Thank God it wasn’t the States’ Water Corporation that attempted to demand registration; at least we know the government can get some things right. What is however not sure are some questions like: what is to be done with this data? How is the data to be managed? How often should it be updated? What legal issues arise from any mismanagement or error of same? Since #change commenced we can ask questions and analyze issues in the light of the letter and spirit of the law, principles and precedents in the name of “keeping tabs with good governance”.

So let us talk about the SIM Registration. To a large extent we can claim that it has been somewhat effective: the registration process that is. We queued, gave our details and got relay messages that said the registration was successful. Impressively, years later, an application “True Caller” was developed using the data. It would track such information and display the name of an unknown number calling, even with its un-functionality sometimes (at least we can manage; we are Nigerians). We have heard in recent times the way the communication service providers have been subpoenaed to give evidence in court by printed records of conversations of registered owners of lines. We have also read of the heavy fines imposed on the pioneer communication service provider, which is currently rocking our boat of FDI attraction (these are issues for another day). The Nigerian Communication Commission had published some of the reasons for the registration. With the key one being security, it wor

ks a great deal in a very little way against the fight on terrorism in the country. Since my registration till now, I have changed address twice. Yet I have not updated with my service provider. Before you judge me as being the major problem of the country as we are quick to doing, we should also not forget that we are a lot to be judged. Without justifying my irresponsibility, I recommend that service providers should do periodic checks on their subscribers to ensure information is up to date instead of raining our phones, running down our batteries and a lot of times distracting our attention with those 5-digit messages and 6 digit line calls to advertise one new product or the other that we are really not interested in.

Most importantly, there should be more awareness as to the utilization of this data, verification of same and connection with other amenities subscribed for by such an individual. I should be able to link my electricity distribution account, or television service with my line and also my water corporation subscription. This way, it would be worth it, doing a police report for an “ordinary” SIM Card that gets missing.

On BVN Registration; it was a sordid experience for so many who had their accounts restricted for having not done the BVN registration or even having done same, had complications. The frustrating part for some is the fact that some of the issues cannot even be resolved by the banks they registered with, because the Central Bank has not given directives on those issues, so they claim. Now let us assess this situation properly. According to basic banking law, one of the undeniable duties of the banker in the banker – customer relationship is the duty to provide the customer his money which he deposited with the banker, whenever he demands for the money provided that such time is within banking hours. Put succinctly the duty to honor customers’ cheque(s). The restriction placed on accounts not duly registered is as to withdrawal, while moneys can still be deposited into the account. The danger is thus for an ignorant customer who hardly withdraws cash and needs cash urgently only to be told his account is restricted, meanwhile he receives text messages regularly on the amounts lodged in. upon demand and subsequent denial, an action may arise. Due diligence on the part of the bank is to ensure that measures are in place to allow and compel the customer to comply with industry regulations. Of course the peculiarity of the Nigerian situation would demand more. If the accounts were restricted from even depositing, it would create a better scenario for the bank to avoid liability. Maybe we can float a class action for breach of banker-customer duty on the banks on this basic principle; at least let us here what the defense would be. If the CBN claims that over 5 million accounts were blocked in a country that claims to have more under-banked population then the effectiveness of the more than one year BVN campaign runs into questioning. Regardless however, the average Nigerian citizen is skeptical about giving information that he is not sure of its security especially with the realities of wikileaks, Boko Haram and Identity theft in our world.

Since the Obasanjo regime, there have been moves, approved budgetary allocations towards the issuance of national identity cards. The National Identity Management Commission got my data since August 2014 and promised to send me a message once my card is ready, and here I am still presenting my University ID Card when I have to cash a cheque. The innovative Lagos state under the leadership of Governor BRF introduced the LASRRA (Lagos State Residents’ Registration Agency. I doubt Lagosians know about this registration.

Whether effective or not effective, we need to know how this data is managed. We need an automated process of registration. Clusters are no longer encouraged in the country with such incidences as the Ebola break out, riots, and other dangerous attacks we are prone to in recent times. ID Cards should be issued with a sensible collection process, not one I have to bribe my way to collect; the already gathered data should be wide spread across agencies and service providers. I should have an identity number that I can provide when booking an online flight, registering a business name, or even applying for admission to a university, that would allow access to my full data as last updated by me. That way, services are faster, customer satisfaction is easier and everyone is happy to have registered. Internet hacking is not new in the world, the agencies in charge should guard properly the information and bear liability in the event of a negligent leak.