The Federal Government, on Monday ordered telecommunications operators, including Globacom, MTN, 9mobile and Airtel to bar all outgoing calls of all Subscriber Identification Module cards not yet linked with the National Identification Number effective today, April 4, 2022.
A statement made available by the Nigeria Communications Commission, and signed by Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, said that as of date, over 125 million SIMs have had their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantami, however commended Nigerians and legal residents for their support during the exercise to link National Identification Number (NIN) to the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM).
Similarly, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued over 78 million unique NINs till date.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari gave the directive for the implementation and commencement of the exercise in December 2020, as part of the administration’s security and social policies.
The deadline for the NIN-SIM linkage has been extended on multiple occasions to allow Nigerians to freely comply with the policy.
The FG also took into consideration the passionate appeals by several bodies – Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Civil Societies, Professional Bodies and a host of others – for the extension of the deadlines in the past.
The statement reads in part: “Accordingly, Mr. President graciously approved the many requests to extend deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage.
“At this point, however, Government has determined that the NIN-SIM Policy implementation can proceed, as machinery has already been put in place to ensure compliance by citizens and legal residents. The implementation impacts on Government’s strategic planning, particularly in the areas of security and socio-economic projections.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the implementation of the Policy with effect from the 4th of April, 2022. Consequently, the Federal Government has directed all Telcos to strictly enforce the Policy on all SIMs issued (existing and new) in Nigeria.
“Outgoing calls will subsequently be barred for telephone lines that have not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage Policy from the 4th of April, 2022.
“Subscribers of such lines are hereby advised to link their SIMs to their NINs before the Telcos can lift the restriction on their lines. Affected individuals are hereby advised to register for their NINs at designated centres and thereafter link the NINs to their SIMs through the channels provided by NIMC and the Telcos, including the NIMC mobile App.”
