Anxiety grips telephone users as SIM-NIN linkage deadline
Omeiza Bilal
About 42 million mobile numbers risked being disconnected following the owners inability to link the subscriber identity module (SIM) with their national identification numbers (NINs) after the expiration of the February 28 deadline.
Recall that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) insisted on its directive that telecom service providers should immediately bar telephone subscribers who have failed to link their phone numbers to National Identification Numbers (NIN) on or before February 28, 2024.
The order was made by the Executive Vice Chairman of the National Communication Commission (NCC), Dr Aminu Maida, while speaking at the NCC’s Special Day during the ongoing 45th Kaduna International Trade Fair on Wednesday, February 28, 2024.
Maida, who was represented by Mr Reuben Mouka, NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, insisted that as a matter of critical national security, telecom consumers must link their NIN to their SIM.
He reaffirmed that the February 28th deadline given to telecom operators to bar subscribers who failed to link their NIN to SIM, stands.
Out of the 45 million, the sources said, 42 million lines have either made a call, had a data session or sent an SMS in over one year.
In a letter to mobile network operators in December 2023, the commission affirmed the federal government’s directive to bar unlinked lines by February 28, 2024, despite pleas by telecom operators that a huge amount of lines are yet to be linked with their NINs.
A full-scale implementation of the policy means that all outgoing and incoming voice calls, data, and SMS will be barred.
Sources further disclosed that only 3 million active lines will be affected out of the 45 million to be barred.
“These 42 million lines have been inactive for over a year. So essentially, from our system checks only about 3 million active lines would be barred. We expect that the users of these lines would come out to submit their NIN and unbar their lines or abandon the lines entirely,” a source stated.
The federal government had said the SIM-NIN registration drive, which commenced in 2020, aims to reduce criminal activities and ensure accountability among mobile phone users.
With the barring of over 40 million lines by telcos, the country is expected to record a significant drop in its teledensity and broadband penetration index.
In addition, telcos like MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile will likely incur huge losses as it could hurt their operation.
