Not long ago, Nigeria’s federal executive council passed a policy on the registration of mobile phone users. This policy, I believe, have been in the mention of the executive vice-chairman of the NCC Mr. Ernest Ndukwe for some time. I have since personally examined some of the reasons being advanced in favour of this policy chief among which is the protection of mobile phone users from criminals. It is thought that when all mobile phone users are registered, it will be easier to apprehend criminals using telephones for sundry crimes. But to be honest, on closer examination, the advantages to be derived from this policy may be far outweighed by the fresh problems it will create. This is why I have wondered sometimes whether the brains of those ruling us is anything bigger than that of an ant. They cannot put policies into serious rational debate before execution, they are always principally concerned about their own selfish interests which in most cases inform their policy decisions.
In the first place, the telephone has been a veritable tool in the hands of criminals in Nigeria for a long time. Telephone is used by a wide range of criminals: fraudsters, armed robbers, kidnappers, political thugs, hired killers etc and this will not stop nor be minimized by the registration of mobile phone users. It will only make life more difficult for us should these people lay their hands on any database containing the list of mobile phone users. In the days when NITEL was really alive, fraudsters often used landlines to make calls to their would-be victims. The availability of NITEL’s annual publication of their customers and their identity only made this easier. But suppose this were to work and you apprehend the so-called criminals, what will come out of such arrest? How many hired killers or armed robbers or kidnappers have been arrested? Even if there are any that have been apprehended, what has happened to them? The point is, most of these people are set free because they work for the untouchables. They are errand boys to the high and mighty who are willing to impose this policy on the rest of us and expose us to more dangers. Who are the people using hired-killers if not the politicians and the big men in society? It is better to respect our privacy now instead of plunging head-long into more serious problems because of some ill-thought out and ill-digested policies.
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Those using the internet today cannot but wonder the degree of scam going on there. Nigerians are all over the place stealing people’s identity, sending scam mails and even letters to people all over the world. Many of my British friends receive mails and letters which can arrest the attention of unsuspecting and greedy people. So, Nigerian criminals make very tasking efforts to even look for identities that are not easily available in order to ply their trade. Only recently, I got an email pretending to emanate from Yahoo but actually came on a gmail account telling me that yahoo intends to clear all unused mails and so I should send my username, password and country of residence to them otherwise they will close down my account within twenty four hours. I didn’t. Instead, I replied them that I expect yahoo to know all these details and moreso, why is yahoo sending an email on a gmail account. I told them I they wish to close my account they should do so because I am not ready to send anything. This was the last I heard from them. But unfortunately, some people I know have fallen into their trap and their accounts have been used to send terrible emails to people. I am using this story to illustrate how far these criminals can go.
I thank God that Nigeria is not the first place where mobile telephony has been in use. In Europe where it has been in use for a long time, identities are not registered. They tried it in Britain some years ago but later dropped the plan because it didn’t work. Just this year, I bought a mobile number without registering any detail of any sort. The lesson is that if you are willing to control crimes, there are other levels where this could be done. Reduce unemployment, increase intelligence gathering, take care of the poor through welfarist policies and so on. An idle mind, it has been said is devil’s workshop. The mounting unemployment in Nigeria today has indirectly led people to a life of crime especially our youths. Also, the bid to get rich quick has become the craze of the moment among our youths. Our security agencies are really not alive and active. The degree of their incompetence has been aptly demonstrated by the IG who recently said that Ribadu was not in Nigeria to commiserate with the family of the late Icon Chief Gani Fawehinmi .
Lastly, in a country where houses are not properly enumerated, where census figures are grossly inaccurate how can people’s address be properly identified? Just look at the failed national identity card scheme and see the profile of an unserious nation? If I register my name as Dimka Sunday Oluwole of so and so address in the Riverine area of the Port Hartcourt, how would you fish me out suppose I commit a crime with my number? What of those using Thuriya? Why is that government has not been able to personally identify the militants in the Niger Delta until they came out during the amnesty?
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Honestly, this policy is another one in the series of the imbecilic policies coming from our government. We should not be pretending to be a serious nation when we are not. Where are the data we have of the exact number of people we live in Nigeria? How many men? How many women? How many young people? How many children? While we complain of high incidents of maternal and child mortality, we really do not have the exact figures of how many women who put to bed in one day and those who survive or die. The Nigeria people are tired of government dealing with non-issues when many pertinent issues are not being attended to. It is like trying to treat rashes when you have leprosy. Government is not dealing unemployment, homelessness, high cost of living, lack of good health facilities, perennial power outages, poor roads, endemic corruption, no water and the list is endless. Our universities have been closed for almost three months now and nothing is being done about it. Look, do we really have a government?
Fr.Emmanuel Ogundele is with the Department of Philosophy, Ss. Peter and Paul Seminary, Bodija, Ibadan.
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