Adeola Aderounmu

Does Nigeria Have A Minister Of Communication? Who is he/she?

SIM Card registration down for more than 2 weeks!

For all the days we have seen yet in July 2025 (today is the 9th), and probably from the last few days of June 2025, the network for the registration of new mobile phones SIM cards has not been operational in Nigeria. I do not know the name of the network but the banks and vendors of SIM card registration businesses would know.

To my knowledge, all the vendors that I have spoken to in Nigeria mentioned 2 to 3 weeks for the length of period of not having the connection/network to register new SIM cards for prospective customers. I am one of those customers. Imagine my frustration in the last 7 days of trying to register a SIM card to my name.

I was at a bank in Festac on the 7th of July where a customer was told to present his international passport instead of his NIN for a transaction. It means that under the prevailing situation, NIN is totally useless to have.

Now these are the issues.

1. Why is the network for SIM card registration non-functional for more than 2 weeks in a country that claims to have a president and a minister of communication.
2. What are the implications for national security if such a system if non-functional?
3. Was NIN essential?
4. If a bank can request for an international passport rather than NIN (since the network was down), could the people have been saved the stress of NIN?
5. Can we make NIN optional and not a necessity for the procurement of SIM cards and in other transactions nationwide where NIN are compulsory?
6. If NIN functionalities is incapacitated for 2 to 3 weeks, could this problem linger for a year, forever?
7. Has the president or the minister of communication in Nigeria address a press conference to explain the problem, why it occurred and when it would be rectified?

I learnt from one of the SIM card vendors that they always get information through a WhatsApp group when the network is back but no information when the network is shut down.

In this life, in 2025, there are some things that should never stop working. The SIM registration is one of them. The ability of the banking industry to carry out legitimate transactions and to be able to check such is another.  

So, when one of the networks controlling bank transactions and security systems is down, there is a national emergency. By implications, such systems need to be resuscitated within minutes of any minor or major setback or breakdown.

But for a period running up to 3 weeks for the breakdown of a major network in Nigeria is a scandal. It is an embarrassment and a shame to this so-called government of Nigeria. The magnitude of the scandal is enough for the yeye minister of communication to resign. That would be in a sane country. But Nigeria is not a country. It remains a business empire created for the orgy of the British royals in 1914.

Who is the minister of communication in Nigeria? What is he or she doing at the moment? Is the person a normal human being?  

The bulk stops on the table of the president in Abuja. Does he even know that SIM card registration is at a halt in Nigeria. Does the president know the implication for the national security? Has he been briefed?

What a mess!

aderounmu@gmail.com