The Federal Government has ordered Telcos to block all unlinked Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) cards from making outgoing calls starting from today (Monday).
Prof. Isah Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, issued the decree on Monday.
Remember that the deadline for Nigerians to link their National Identification Numbers (NINs) to their SIM cards expired on March 31 after being postponed eight times.
In a last-ditch effort to complete the linkage, the Federal Government asked Nigerians to complete the verification and linking of their NINs to their SIMs within days.
According to a statement released today (Monday) by Dr. Ike Adinde, Director of Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and Kayode Adegoke, Head, Corporate Communications, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Pantami applauded Nigerians and Legal Residents for their support during the exercise to link the NIN to the SIM.
Over 125 million SIMs have had their NINs submitted for quick linking, verification, and authentication, FG affirmed. The NIMC, on the other hand, has issued nearly 78 million unique NINs to date.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the policy’s implementation, which will begin on April 4th, 2022, according to the NCC and NIMC.
As a result, the Federal Government has asked all telcos in Nigeria to rigidly enforce the regulation on all SIM cards issued (both old and new).
“Outgoing calls will subsequently be barred for telephone lines that have not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage Policy from the April 4th, 2022,” statement read.
“Subscribers of such lines are hereby advised to link their SIMs to their NINs before the telecommunications companies can lift the restriction on their lines.
“Affected individuals are hereby advised to register for their NINs at designated centers and thereafter link the NINs to their SIMs through the channels provided by NIMC and the telcos, including the NIMC mobile App.”
