The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced that network service providers have deactivated all Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) lacking National Identity Numbers (NIN). The disclosure was made by the Commission’s spokesperson, Reuben Morka, in an interview with Channels Television.
Morka explained that the subscribers who experienced disconnection had not taken the necessary steps for the NIN-SIM linkage. He emphasized that the primary aim of this policy is to enhance security measures and contribute to national planning efforts.
“It will be difficult to place a hand on the actual number of phone lines that have been barred. But take it that everybody who has not submitted NIN to service providers has been barred.
“The service providers started barring subscribers many days before the deadline.
“We are expecting to do an audit on that before the end of the week because the service providers ought to send in data of the subscribers barred.
“The process is to have an identity attached to a SIM. One of the benefits of SIM registration is to have a digital identity. The Nigerian government is very serious about having NIN as managed by NIMC. The idea is to ensure that we have those together. Some objectives, if you remember, are security and national planning. Also includes Know Your Customer’s details”, he said.
Recall that following the expiration of NIN-SIM linkage on February 28, network operators said they had disconnected 40 million subscribers without NIN.
The mobile network providers said the next phase is to bar subscribers with multiple SIMs without NIN linkage.
The development comes after several deadline extensions since the policy was kickstarted by the then Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, in 2020.
