By Gloria Ikibah
Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator has introduced a new digital framework designed to strengthen security and reduce fraud across the country’s rapidly expanding digital space.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) unveiled the Telecommunications Identity Risk Management System (TIRMS), a platform aimed at tightening safeguards around identity verification and financial transactions. 
The was disclosed by the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC, Aminu Maida, during a stakeholder engagement focused on the new system in Abuja. He was represented at the event by the Executive Commissioner for Stakeholder Management, Rimini Makama.
The initiative reflects growing concern over the increasing role of mobile phone numbers in everyday transactions. Once used primarily for communication, SIM-based identifiers are now central to banking, digital authentication and access to a wide range of essential services across the economy.
Industry stakeholders who gathered for the one-day forum were briefed on how the new system is expected to address emerging risks tied to this shift. As digital services continue to expand, so too have vulnerabilities, with fraudsters exploiting gaps in identity management systems.
The TIRMS platform is expected to introduce a more coordinated approach to managing these risks, helping to secure user identities and restore confidence in digital transactions.
The move signals a broader effort by the Commission to stay ahead of evolving threats in Nigeria’s digital ecosystem, as reliance on mobile-driven services continues to grow.
He said: “The fraudulent use of churned, recycled, swapped and barred MISISDNs has become a significant vector for financial fraud and identity theft.
“It is eroding public trust in our digital platforms and undermining the identity of systems we have worked hard to build.
“It is in direct response to these challenges, that the commission has initiated the TIRMS platform”.
According to him, TIRMS is a secure, regulatory backed, cross-sectoral platform, designed to provide a uniform approach for managing all risks relating to the integrity and utilisation of registered MSISDNs, on the country’s communications network.
“Its objectives are to improve access to mobile number across key sectors, to aid user accountability, reduce fraud risks by enabling service providers to verify mobile numbers flagged for dormancy, suspicious, criminal and fraudulent activities.
“This is before granting access to services and to enhance digital security by ensuring service providers across all sectors can proactively verify and validate customer mobile number status,” Maida stated.
The EVC noted that the commission had proposed targeted amendments to the Quality of Service (QOS) Business Rules and Registration of Communications Subscribers Regulations Business Rules, to strengthen the regulatory foundation for the TIRMS platform,
“These amendments will, among other things, require operators to notify affected subscribers at least 14 days, before any line is churned.
“Mandate the submission of all churn number details to the TIRMS platform, within seven days of completion of the churn process and establish a new framework for the blocking of fraudulently registered or fraudulently utilised MSISDNs,” he said.
In her remarks, NCC Director of Cybersecurity and Internet Governance, Ms Olatokunbo Oyeleye, stated that digital trust was the operating licence of modern economy, adding that without it, nothing scaled and with it, everything accelerated.
“For our sector, this trust must be embedded across the entire value chain,” she said.
According to her, TIRMS is designed to strengthen coordination across relevant sectors, to enhance identity assurance of mobile numbers and prevent fraud, stemming from churned, swapped and recycled mobile numbers.
