The National Identification Authority (NIA) says it fully supports the ongoing SIM card registration exercise, contrary to claims in the media that it has denounced the exercise.
The authority in a letter said it has so far cooperated with all the agencies involved in the process and does not in any way disagree with the authority of the other stakeholders, including the National Communications Authority (NCA).
Members of the Concerned Mobile Network Subscribers, a group of people campaigning against the ongoing SIM registration exercise, recently intensified their calls for the process to be halted citing a letter from the NIA responding to queries by a concerned citizen in which the NIA said it is unable to confirm that the biometric data to be collected by the NCA for the purpose of SIM registration will meet the standard necessary to be verified against the National Identification System (NIS) database.
The NIA in reacting to the said letter, confirmed the content and stated that it still stands by them, but added that it fully endorses the registration process.
“NIA stands by every statement contained in its response letter of 13th September 2021 as being technically factual, accurate, correct, and honest,” it said in its statement.
The NIA also added that, “the NIA fully supports the SIM card registration in the country and does not in any way contest the mandate of the Ministry of Communication and Digitalization (MoCD) or the National Communications Authority (NCA) to implement SIM card registration in accordance with law. Indeed, NIA has fully cooperated, in good faith and to the best of its abilities, with the MoCD and the NCA.”
It further stated that it enjoys the cooperation with other state agencies regarding government policies and programs.
“The NIA greatly values inter-agency cooperation and collaboration for the attainment of Government’s development policies and programs. To this end, it has successfully cooperated, within the framework of the law and public policy with other user agencies such as SSNIT, NHIA, GRAT and the Controller & Accountant General’s Department in advancing data harmonization and the integration in this country, and will continue to do so with the NCA and other state institutions,” the NIA noted.