Should FG Continue Extending NIN-SIM Linkage Deadline or Make Enrolment Indefinite?

The Federal Government has again extended the deadline for Nigerians to link their National Identity Number (NIN) with their SIM cards. The new deadline is now July 26. So far,  there are now a total of 57.3 million unique NIN enrolments, with an average of 3 to 4 SIMs per NIN.

If you do not know, this is about the sixth time the government is shifting the deadline. If this repeated extension continues, Nigerians won’t take the government seriously as per the threat of blocking the SIM cards that are not connected to NIN.

The expected reaction for those who have not enrolled is the government will extend it again. Even some Nigerians who braved long queues to register for the NIN are regretting it. If only they knew that the government will keep dilly-dallying with the deadline, they would have simply delayed or not linked their SIM cards at all.

NIN-SIM Linkage History

The Federal Government via the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) first announced that registration of new Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards will now require the presentation of the National Identity Number (NIN) in 2019.

NCC, which said the enforcement of the new rule takes effect soon, noted that the move became necessary following the rising criminality in the country.

According to its Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, the policy is in line with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Act 2007 relating to NIN regulations, which provide that a person must provide his/her unique number to register a SIM card.

Consequently, Danbatta said the NCC, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, had set in motion mechanisms for compliance.

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 as from 31 December 2020. This follows the directive from the telecoms regulator to the network operators to suspend registration of new SIMs.

The Beginning of Extensions

1. January 19, 2021
2. February 9, 2021
3. April 6, 2021
4. May 6, 2021
5. June 30th
6. July 26th

The reason for the extension has become a soundbite-Stakeholders requested an extension of the deadline.

For how long will this extension continue? In May when it was extended to June 30th, 54 million Nigerians had registered while the enrollment figure given for the recent extension is 57.3. An addition of about 3 million.

This is low considering the number of extensions and statistics from DataReportal that there are 187.9 million mobile or SIM connections in Nigeria in January 2021. SIM card penetration is the total number of SIM card connections in a country as a percentage of the total population. So, there is still a lot to be done.

But one thing is sure, the government can’t continue with deadline extension because it has become a joke. They should just go ahead to block SIM cards or better still make the linkage indefinite with added incentives from the telcos.