Telephone operators will from today begin to block outgoing calls from over 60 million SIMs that are not linked to NINs. Already over 125 million SIMs are linked to NINs out of the over 190 million active SIMs across the telecom networks.
E-world reports that the action is in response to a federal government directive issued to the telecom operators last week.
A statement issued today by the director of Public Affiars of the Nigerian Communications Commission ( NCC) Dr Ikechukwu Adinde said the the federal government has directed that “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.
The statement said 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 centers and thereafter link the NINs to their SIMs through the channels provided by NIMC and the Telcos, including the NIMC mobile App”, the statement further said.
Adinde said the minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Pantanmi has also emphasized that enrolment for the NIN is a continuous exercise and NIN is a precondition for service in Telcos, banks, Nigerian Immigration Service, and for several other government services.
According to Adinde,as of date over 125 million SIMs had their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication, while the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued over 78 Million unique NINs till date.
He said the deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage has been extended by the FG on multiple occasions to allow Nigerians to freely comply with the Policy, taken 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.
Accordingly to Adinde while the 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.
“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”, the statement firther said
