The Federal Government (FG) of Nigeria has directed all telecom operators in the country to bar outgoing calls for all that have not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage Policy from the 4th of April, 2022.
The directive was given by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami after the expiration of the recent deadline given by the government of 31st March 2022.
According to the Honourable Minister, the FG commended Nigerians and Legal Residents for their support during the exercise to link National Identification Number (NIN) to the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM). He said that as of date, over 125 Million SIMs have had their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication. Similarly, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued over 78 Million unique NINs till date.
You would recall that in December 2020, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) instructed mobile operators in the country, MTN, Airtel, Glo and 9 Mobile, to block all SIMs without National Identification Numbers (NINs) from their networks. This was as a result of the country’s security and social policies.
The deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage was extended eight times to allow Nigerians to freely comply with the Policy.
The Honourable Minister said:
“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 centers and thereafter link the NINs to their SIMs through the channels provided by NIMC and the Telcos, including the NIMC mobile App.”
The Honourable Minister 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. He also encouraged Nigerians and legal residents to visit NIN registration centers for the enrollment and issuance of valid NINs.
As of February 2022, Nigeria has a total of 197,768,482 subscribers. That means that about 77 million SIMs will be affected by this order.
