The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has informed consumers, whose Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards are barred from making calls, that affected SIMs will not be unbarred by the service providers until they are linked with the National Identification Numbers (NINs) of the SIM holders.
NCC said, “This information has become necessary in view of a viral weblink (https://bit.ly/NCC-Sim-Unbar-Gov-Ng) being circulated on social media and some websites. The link and accompanying narrative represent patent misinformation and disinformation certainly designed to mislead the general public about the SIM cards that are barred from making calls, due to non-linkage with NIN at the set deadline.”
According to the commission, the misleading, viral message mischievously displays the NCC logo and ostensibly promises members of the public that, by clicking the web link and following further instructions in that regard, subscribers with barred SIM cards can unbar such SIMs across mobile networks without a valid NIN. The commission has subsequently denied making such a statement and has warned the general public to disregard it.
The Commission also said that it will not, under any circumstance, act contrary to Federal Government’s directive to MNOs to bar SIMs cards not linked to NINs at the expiration of the last deadline given for the NIN-SIM linkage exercise.
Having disclaimed the false viral message, the Commission took a step further to officially inform affected telecom subscribers on how they can get their SIMs actively connected to make calls.
First, for subscribers that have not registered for their NIN, what to do is to get their SIM registered at accredited centres across the country and then link the NIN with their SIM cards through channels provided by their service providers.
Secondly, for subscribers with registered NINs, what to do is to simply go and link the NIN with their SIMs through channels provided by their service providers.