I received several death threats over NIN-SIM linkage - Pantami

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, has disclosed that he received several death threats over the implementation of the National Identity Number (NIN) and SIM registration in the country.

How it happened: The Minister made this known while speaking at the fourth edition of the Identity Day commemoration, in Abuja on Friday, September 16, 2022.

The programme, organised by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), also had in attendance the agency's Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Aliyu Aziz.

NIMC keeps growing: While praising the growth recorded in the NIN registration exercise, Pantami revealed that about 90 million Nigerians have been captured in the NIMC database so far.

He said the feat may not have been achieved if he didn't resist the threats on his life, adding that registration centres have been increased from 1,000 to 50,000 within three years.

Pantami's word: “We can only get our digital economy right when we continue to improve and encourage our citizens to enroll in our national database. When we commenced the process, many people turned against me. My life was threatened because of the introduction of NIN and sim registration on BBC radio and many more and I resisted believing that nobody can control my life in this world, only Almighty God.

“We resisted and now the process is working. Sometimes, I can stay for one month without speaking to NIMC and there is no any problem. Today, most of our citizens that were fighting are now silent. Looking back from three years ago, the National Identity Management Commission had managed under challenging conditions, to achieve an enrollment figure of nearly 90 million enrollments for the country.

“By the time I took supervision of NIMC, the total number of registration centres were not up to 1,000 but today, we have over 50,000. Today our national database is on auto drive. We have established over 19 national policies and all of them are being implemented. This has never happened in the history of Nigeria.”