'Controversy brewing!' We'll use data mining to identify poverty level, minister says

There are growing concerns over the decision of the Muhammadu Buhari government to mine Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) data of phone users in the country.

Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy disclosed government’s plan to mine phone data in a viral video circulating across the social media platforms, in which he said that the poorest of the poor in the country were identified and offered supports through the SIM registration data mined by the ministry.

The Minister revealed this in a video interview with an unidentified person. The statement also aligns with the recent pronouncement by Sadiya Umar-Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, who said beneficiaries of the social intervention scheme would be sourced through SIM records of phone users and the Biometric Verification Numbers (BVN).

Pantami had earlier explained in the footage that the SIM registration exercise and call card loading history would enable the ministry to identify the poverty level of those who should urgently benefit from the current social intervention programme.

These measures, he noted, would help the Federal Government reach out to the most vulnerable households and members of the community.

“We have supported our country in the area of social intervention…one of the ways we came up with this is using our SIM/ telecom registration where citizens have a database for registration. Through SIM registration of their mobile phones and SIM cards, we partake in data mining in order to identify their poverty level,” Pantami stated in the video.

“Through data mining, we have been discovering those that need urgent intervention in terms of feeding and other basic necessities of life.”

The minister further acknowledged the release of huge sums as a palliative by the federal government to the poor.

“We discover that with this new policy on lockdown in some states and restriction of movements, many people among our citizens find it difficult to get what to eat, so this government budgeted a huge amount of money in order to support them with whatever they need,” Pantami stated.

However, lawyers have contested the approach of accessing the biometric data, describing it as an invasion of privacy

Usually, phone subscribers in Nigeria are required by law to register their sim cards. During the registration process, they have to provide information such as name, occupation and home address including their biometrics, that is fingerprints and digital images.

These data, according to a report on a public enquiry on the SIM registration regulation, released in December 2010, however, restrict telecom operators from retaining biometric information of subscribers.

Except for the telecom operators internal use, the National Communications Commission (NCC) Registration of Telephone Subscribers Regulation (2011) recognises section 37 of the nation’s constitution which safeguards citizens’ privacy.

“The subscriber information contained in the central database shall be held on a strictly confidential basis and no person or entity shall be allowed access to any subscriber information on the central database except as provided in these Regulations,” Section 9 of the regulation states.

“Subscriber information shall not be released to a licensee, security agency or any other person, where such release of subscriber information would constitute a breach of the constitution or any other act of the national assembly, for the time being in force in Nigeria or where such release of subscriber information would constitute a threat to national security.

“Licensees shall not release personal information of a subscriber to any third party without obtaining the prior written consent of the subscriber.”

It is, however, uncertain if these data can be a true benchmark in determining a user’s economic status.

Besides, as far as the register of the poor in Nigeria is concerned, the National Cash Transfer Office (NCTO) had since 2018 adopted the World Bank Model through the National Social Safety-Nets Coordinating Office (NASSCO) where beneficiaries were sourced directly from the state level via engagements with local communities.

As of 12th April, the NCTO stated that 2.6 million vulnerable and poor households have been captured in the National Social Register (NSR) while 1,126,211 are currently benefitting from the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT).

It would be recalled that President Buhari had over three weeks ago, announced a lock-down directive in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun States as part of efforts to prevent further spread of the virus in the states considered as the epicentres of the COVID-19 disease.

The president further extended the initial two weeks period by another 14 days on 13th April.

He announced the inclusion of an additional 1 million households as new beneficiaries of the scheme. With this figure, the benefitting households to be captured in the social register would increase to 3.6 million persons.

Strangely, however, the communications minister claimed his ministry was able to ascertain monthly top-ups of telecommunication subscribers to arrive at the monetary disbursement process.

“…government has been supporting many citizens today, sometimes on a weekly basis and distributing food items directly to their homes. And the best way we did it was identifying even sometimes, the amount they spend during top-ups. How much do they use to top-up their lines?”

According to him, the strategy was part of the most effective measures to reach poor households nationwide, emphasising that in a month, some subscribers might not spend beyond $1, and at most less than $2.

“So, with this, we are able to categorise their level and see what they need and how government can also support them. So this is one of the things we have done.”