Nigerians Vote Against Submitting Phone ID In TheCable Poll On Twitter

• …only eighteen per cent voted in favour of complying with the NCC’s directive…

At least eighty-two percent of Nigerians who participated in a poll conducted on Twitter by online news medium, TheCable, have voted against providing their phone International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number as directed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The NCC had, on Friday, in a Revised National Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration, said the aim of the latest directive is to curtail the counterfeit mobile phone market, discourage mobile phone theft, enhance National Security, among other reasons. A development that has since been met with stiff opposition from Nigerians.

The IMEI number is a 15-digit number unique to each phone. With the IMEI number, a phone can be tracked and located.

Read also: ‘We’re Not Submitting Our IMEI,’ Nigerians Kick Against NCC’s Directive

But the poll, which was initiated twenty-four hours ago, posed the question: “will you submit your phone’s ID as requested by FG?” It however had 2,012 participants but only eighteen per cent voted in favour of complying with the NCC’s directive while the remaining eighty-two per cent voted against it.

Nevertheless, the result of the poll has generated varying reactions from Nigerians on the social media space.

Eko Hot Blog culled some of the comments:

@yunusxonline: na only Yahoo-boys and other criminals go say NO now. We  kno dem

@Solution464: For what? I don’t trust this regime right from the onset. If an imei is cloned, it can be used to siphon someone’s account.

@hugedigitalmkt: @NigBarAssoc Isn’t this an infringement on our human right?

Please educate the public, the 3rd arm of government need to seat up, and put this @nigeriagov on their toes.

No soul is bigger than the Nigerian constitution that needs to be changed as quick as possible.

#sorosoke

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@skyprince1980: The 18% that said yes are all terrorist groups from bandits/ISIS. I just confirm it now

@PartnershipsNig: You don’t need to submit imei.This is a non issue as the network operators already have the capacity to detect,retrieve and store phone IDs once the phone access the networks.

@BensonBasil: Too much data mining and mass surveillance for governments that have never lived up to protecting lives & properties to a bearable percentage. Are we not vulnerable enough as citizens? Do they need to speed up our destruction? Management,institutions & safety are awful already.