TheCable

Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, says the 14 million internet subscribers that deserted the telcos within one year are mostly criminals. 

Pantami said this on Wednesday while addressing journalists at the end of the weekly federal executive council (FEC) meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.

On Tuesday, TheCable reported that the total number of active internet subscribers, which hit 154.88 million — an all-time high — in November 2020, dropped to 140.34 million at the end of October 2021.

The federal government had said that the national identification numbers (NINs) registration would help fight insecurity.

“The NIN will cover one of the weaknesses in our security structure. We will be able to easily identify and know the personality of Nigerians,” Buhari had said.

“We will identify people easily, including the crooks.”

In April, the government mandated the use of NIN for the issuance of new SIM cards.

Speaking on the drop of internet users, Pantami said it was because of the government’s insistence on NIN for new subscribers.

“The over 12 million that have dropped are mostly criminals that cannot come out to regularise their numbers,” the minister said.