A former Senator, representing Kaduna Central, Shehu Sani, Shehu Sani, has faulted the SIM card and National Identification Number linkage as terrorists have contacted family members of passengers abducted on the ill-fated Kaduna-bound train.
The PUNCH had reported that a train headed for Kaduna from Abuja was attacked by terrorists who detonated explosives laid on the railway tracks.
The attack led to the death of eight passengers including a dentist, Chinelo Megafu, with others injured, while many were kidnapped.
Sani, in a tweet on Thursday, stated that the abductors have been freely calling families of the victims and demanding ransom.
He questioned the need for the SIM and NIN registration if they could not come in handy in dire situations like the train attack.
Sani wrote, “The train kidnappers are freely making calls to the families of their hostages; What happened to the SIM card registration and the NIN hoopla?”
In a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, on Thursday, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, urged citizens and legal residents to complete the SIM card and NIN linkage.
The PUNCH reported that Federal Government has been pushing for more Nigerians and legal residents to register for its universal identification system which it claimed would also help in matters of national security.
There have been many extensions on the deadline for the SIM-NIN linkage, with the latest on March 31, 2022.
So far, there have been no victims rescued since the attack on the train on Sunday despite calls from different quarters for security agencies to ramp up their operations.
