The Minister of Communications, Dr Isa Ibrahim, has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission to block the 9.2 million SIM cards that were discovered during a preliminary investigation.
The minister made this known in Abuja during a courtesy visit of the executive councils of the Nigeria Computer Society and Computer Professionals Registration Council of Nigeria to the minister.
A statement by the ministry on Thursday stated that the directive aligned with the short-term targets set by the minister to NCC to bring to an end the issue of sale of pre-registered and partially-registered SIM cards.
Ibrahim asked NCC to block the numbers until the users presented themselves.
The professional bodies congratulated the minister on his appointment and also pledged full support to grow Nigeria’s Information and Communications Technology sector.
Ibrahim encouraged the professionals to continue with their positive contributions to the ICT sector, which he said had resulted in the sector surpassing the oil and gas in contributions to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product.