In a fresh directive, the Federal Government of Nigeria has announced the complete ban on the importation of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards.
Isa Pantam who is the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy had made the announcement on Monday in Oniru, Lagos.
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He spoke at the Nigerian Telecommunications Indigenous Content Expo (NTICE) organized by the Nigeria Office for Developing Indigenous Telecoms Sector (NODITS) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Pantami said Africa’s biggest country should not be importing things that could be produced within.
“Let me make it clear that the federal government will no longer tolerate the importation of sim cards. We are now producing them in Nigeria.
“Our aim is to increase indigenous content in the ICT sector so that by 2025, we will be self-reliant by at least 80 percent”, the minister noted.
Pantami urged stakeholders and citizens to support government efforts to boost local patronage and consumption.
“If we do this, history will be kind to all of us”, the professor of Cybersecurity added.
In June, Pantami informed the public that the Buhari administration had established a SIM card manufacturing plant in Lagos.
The facility, built with private sector support, has the capacity to produce 200 million cards annually and also export them to other African countries.
The Federal Government has sworn to sanction the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and Trust Tv for airing respective documentaries which according to them was glorifying and fuelling terrorism and banditry in Nigeria.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, made this vow in an interview with newsmen in Abuja
He pointed out that the Federal Government is aware of the unprofessional documentary by the BBC programme, Africa Eye, where interviews were granted to bandit warlords and terror gangs.
He condemned the BBC for not upholding the same standards and tenets as they would have done in the United Kingdom.
The minister also condemned Trust Tv owned by Media Trust for using its platform to grant interview to a bandit kingpin, Shehu Rekeb, thereby promoting activities of terrorists.
