Nigeria blocks 73 million mobile phones in digital ID clampdown

OWERRI, Nigeria, April 20 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - C onstance Chioma calls her son every morning to check that he is safe while studying in northeast Nigeria, a region plagued by deadly attacks by Islamist insurgents and armed kidnappings.

Earlier this month, she could not get through.

She later realised her SIM card was one of about 73 million - more than a third of the 198 million in Nigeria - which have been barred from making outgoing calls because they have not been registered in the national digital identity database.

“I could not concentrate at work; I was uneasy and constantly asking myself if he was safe,” said Chioma, a 57-year-old teacher in Owerri city in southeast Nigeria.

“With the rising insecurity in the north, not speaking with my son makes me afraid.”