The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami has announced the ban by the Federal Government on the importation of Subscriber Identity Module popularly known as (SIM) Cards.

This announcement was made on Monday in Oniru, Lagos.

Pantami while speaking 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) opined the Nigeria being Africa’s biggest country shouldn’t be importing things that could be produced in the country.

He said, “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.

He however urged stakeholders and citizens to support government so as 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 had informed the public that the Buhari administration had established a SIM card manufacturing plant in Lagos which has the capacity to produce 200 million cards annually and also export them to other African countries.