The Nigerian Communications Commission has come out to say that Nigerians will not have to submit their International Mobile Equipment Identity numbers to the agency.

NCC recently revealed this via a statement signed by its Director, Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to NCC, the commission never issued a statement to that effect because such data can always be captured automatically.

NCC added that the report came from a section of the Revised National Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari and which has been uploaded on the commission’s site.

It read, “At no time did the commission issue a statement regarding the registration of IMEI by subscribers and it has no plans to do so.”

“The reports in question have emanated from a section of the Revised National Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration recently launched by President Muhammadu Buhari and which has been uploaded on the commission’s website.”

“It is pertinent to state that the commission is in the process of deploying a Device Management System.”

“The DMS will essentially protect subscribers against phone theft and will identify and enable the elimination of fake devices from the networks.”

“The system will capture IMEI automatically without any requirement for subscribers to submit same.”