59.7 million is not just a number; it’s like the entire population of South Africa or Italy disappearing from our national phone book. This figure represents a significant loss, and it comes from the NCC’s 2024 Subscriber/Network Performance Report.
This report reveals a much bigger story than just “59.7 million lines are gone.” For years, the Nigerian government has aimed for “One Person, One ID.” The National Identification Number (NIN) was meant to be the key to access many parts of our lives, such as bank accounts, passports, and especially SIM cards.
The government claimed that many unregistered SIM cards were behind crime, like kidnapping and scamming. They introduced the NIN-SIM linkage policy in 2020 to solve this issue. However, we all experienced endless deadlines and “final warnings” about this policy. Eventually, too many deadlines passed without action.
In 2024, something significant happened. The government, led by the NCC, took action on September 14, 2024, and pressed the “delete” button. As a result, 59.7 million lines disappeared. The number of subscribers dropped from 224.7 million to 164.9 million. However, this 59.7 million loss wasn’t just about the NIN-SIM purge.
The NCC report pointed out another reason: “the correction of a long-standing subscriber count issue by a major mobile network operator.” This means a big telecom company likely used this chance to fix its records. For years, it may have counted “active” subscribers in a different way. So, two things happened at once:
- The Government Purge: Millions of unlinked SIMs were disconnected.
- The Corporate Purge: A major telco corrected its own numbers and likely removed millions of “inactive” lines.
This combination caused the 59.7 million drop.
Did We Become Less Connected?
Now, let’s look at the data. The report shows that our “teledensity” fell from 103.66% to 76.08%. Teledensity represents the number of active phone lines for every 100 people. But seeing a figure over 100% seemed strange, right? How could there be more phone lines than people?
Well, many of us have multiple SIMs, like an MTN line for calls, a Glo line for cheap data, an Airtel for 5G, and a 9mobile you might not use. We are a “multi-SIM” country. The 103.66% figure was inflated due to these extra, often unused SIMs.
The “Great Purge” didn’t make Nigeria less connected. Instead, it made the statistics more honest. The new 76.08% is likely a clearer view of the real, active user base.
The Real Story: Ghost Lines vs. Real Users
So, did 59.7 million people lose their phone lines? No. What went away were the “ghost lines”:
- The extra SIMs you didn’t link.
- The SIM card you never used.
- Lines that were intended for fraud and anonymity.
We know this because the NCC report provides a different important number: broadband penetration, the measure of people actually using the internet, did not drop. It increased. It went from 43.71% in 2023 to 44.43% in 2024.
Think about it: we “lost” 60 million lines, yet more people connected to the modern, digital economy.
What Does This Mean?
This is the key takeaway. The 2024 purge wasn’t the end of the telecom industry; it was a much-needed correction. It was like a company cleaning out years of fake inventory. While the total number of “active subscribers” dropped, the actual valuable customers, those who use data, are now easier to identify.
The telcos may have faced a big blow to their vanity metrics, but they now have a more focused customer base. The government, in theory, has a cleaner and safer network. And the data shows that the numbers are bouncing back.
The 173.54 million subscribers in September 2025 are not filled with old ghost accounts. They are new or returning users who are verified from the start. The storm has passed, and what’s left is a solid foundation to build on.
