The House of Representatives has asked the National Communications Commission (NCC) for an extension of the 31st December deadline slapped on sim card owners to submit their National Identification Numbers (NIN) to their network providers to prevent blocking.
House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu moved the motion on Wednesday during plenary. He said that the two weeks deadline given is insufficient for 200 million Nigerians to complete such a process.
The House has also praised the NCC for the move which was initiated for security reasons but also wants the commission to extend the process to 10 weeks due to the rigours involved in attaining the NIN.
The Federal Government on Tuesday issued an ultimatum to all telecommunications operators in the country to block all Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) without National Identification Number (NIN).
It also ordered the network operators to ask all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update their records and suspend SIM registration.
These formed parts of the resolutions adopted for immediate implementation by all network operators at an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in the communications industry held in Abuja.
The spokesman for the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, noted in a statement that the meeting was convened on Monday by the Minister, Dr. Isa Pantami.
According to him, the meeting resolved that the submission of NIN by subscribers would take place between December 16 and 30, 2020.
The government had said that SIMs without NINS after the deadline should be blocked from networks as a Task Force comprising of the Minister and all the CEOs, among others would monitor compliance by all networks.
It warned that violations of the directives by any network operator would be met with stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating licences.
Adinde explained that the meeting followed the earlier directive on the suspension of new SIM registration by network operators.
