Close to 65 million Nigerians are at risk of
disconnection from their phone lines for failing to link their SIM cards to their National Identification Number (NIN) before the given deadline
The telecommunications regulator in the nation, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), had earlier issued a warning to telecom users that from september 15, 2024, no SIM card woul continue to remain active without a verified national identity number.
Reports gathered and analysed by the media today, September 17, shows that almost 65 million lines remain at risk saying that an estimated one million mobile, have had inactive lines with just 15 million linked to NINs, telling that about 66 million lines were unlinked to NIN after the NCC’s directive.
While speaking to newsmen, the chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, resisted the idea of a deadline extension and confirmed to the media that disconnection process is effectively ongoing.
In a statement, he said "It’s difficult to provide exact numbers for the lines disconnected so far, but it’s certainly less than 66 million because, even on the day of the deadline, people were still linking their SIMs,”
He nodded in agreement to the fact that mobile operators were following the NCC’s directives, describing the deadline as “acceptable and reasonable" and needed to be adopted.
Adebayo further called on telecom subscribers to comply and adhere to directives.
He said “We can’t keep extending deadlines and going back and forth on this issue. This is a national concern, and data are critical for national development.
However, the National Association of
Telecoms Subscribers urged the NCC to move the deadline forward thereby making room for others to subscribers to register.
“Given the NIN portal’s technical glitches that persisted for almost a week earlier, and the improvements made last week, it’s only fair that the NCC allows subscribers to make up for the lost time. This extension will provide a much-needed buffer for subscribers to resolve any registration issues,” he said.
Between July 28 and 29, millions of lines were temporarily cut off due to unverified NINs, causing widespread disruptions in the country.
The NCC had reversed its decision earlier, giving room for subscribers to comply. However, with the deadline now expired disconnections will commence immediately.
Before the deadline elapsed, an NCC official, who pleased to be anonymous as he was not authorized to speak on the matter, dismissed any possibility of an extension.
“We will disconnect anyone who does not comply; the grace period is over. The reason why we extended the last time was because of the misconception of Nigerians who claimed that
the NCC wants first-half 2024 financial results. MTN Nigeria and Airtel Africa collectively barred 13.5 million lines due to non-compliance with the NIN-SIM linkage directive in meeting up with deadline.
MTN Nigeria reported blocking 8.6 million lines of subscribers while Airtel Africa stated that 4.8 million lines remained unverified, contrary to earlier reports of 8.7 million completed verifications.
The compulsory NIN-SIM linkage, initiated in December 2020, was set in place to curb unregistered SIMs and those without NIN links for implementation of verification of telecom users in the country.
This is following multiple deadline extensions by the NCC since December 2023, April 15, 2024, which saw subscribers with four or fewer SIMs having unverified NIN details.
In March, the NIMC and the NCC established a strategic collaboration in a move at enhancing processes related to the NIN-SIM linkage.
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