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The House of
Representatives has stopped the bid by the Nigerian Communications
Commission to spend N6.1b on the registration of SIM cards, saying the
exercise is the responsibility of operators in the telecoms industry.

Lawmakers dumped
the plan on Thursday, overwhelming Dave Salako, the Communications
Committee chairman of the House, who, last week, offered to raise the
amount and spent minutes justifying the sum during yesterday’s debate
on the commission’s 2010 budget.

At the sitting, Mr.
Salako was asked to explain his committee’s recommendation that the
commission proceed with the project, after many lawmakers argued that
the burden should be borne by the service providers.

He explained that
operators fear they lack the technical capacity to carry out the
registration and may not be able to complete the job on schedule.

He said the
decision, as reached by the both sides, was for the NCC to register
existing phone users while the providers register new ones.

The details
prompted members to condemn the plan, with the Speaker, Dimeji Bankole,
and the Deputy, Usman Nafada, reminding Mr. Salako of the powers of the
lawmaking body to decide, and not to be decided to.

“It is not a choice
for them to make,” Mr. Nafada said. “Even if they are not registering
existing lines, the National Assembly has the power to direct them to
do so.”

Mr. Bankole
advised, that, “We don’t want to put you in a difficult position so
that it does not look as if you are an advocate.”

The House voted overwhelmingly against that provision after series of consultations.

Mr. Salako’s
defence of the N6.1bn allocation, against the disapproval his
colleagues, has deepened the complexities surrounding the project meant
to curb kidnapping and extortion.

Vague issues

The Representatives
had recommended that the communications committee should disallow the
allocation on the grounds that, as a regulatory body, the NCC has no
duty registering phone users since they do not sell the SIMs.

But at last week’s
committee consideration of the N42.6b budget of the commission, the
chairman overruled that concern and offered to raise the amount if the
commission said N6.1bn would be insufficient.

The understanding
is that contracts for the job have already been awarded even before the
appropriation and the chairman himself pointed that out during the
budget defence session.

His insistence, backed Halims Agoda, and Austin Uchendu, is viewed as an attempt at properly retiring the contract claims.

Mr. Bankole vowed
to unearth the vague issues surrounding the project, and justified the
decision after Mr. Uchendu said it would work against the fight against
kidnapping.

“No member of this house will support of kidnapping, and nobody opposes this project,” he said.

“What we are saying
is that, in the process of doing this, we cannot do what will touch on
the mood of the public by appropriating money when money has already
been made available by the service providers.

“Therefore, we will get to the bottom of this matter without anyone playing on our intelligence,” he warned.

Mr. Bankole, however, ruled that the chamber’s position on the matter could be revisited through the House rescinding rule.