The Inspector General of Police, Sir Mike Okiro, is sponsoring a draft bill seeking the enactment of a law to order GSM companies in Nigeria to register the names and addresses of all their subscribers.

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Titled “A bill for an Act to make it mandatory for all GSM companies to register their subscribers”, the draft bill seeks to make it a punishable offence for a GSM company to fail to comply, the penalty of which could lead to closure of the company, or a fine of N1million Naira. The bill also seeks to punish a subscriber who fails to register his or her numbers within a given period.

The Nigeria Police is sponsoring this bill in order to control the use of GSM phones, which are now being used by miscreants, to commit crimes like kidnapping, obtaining under false pretence, etc.