FG To Block SIM Cards Without NIN Registration by January

The federal government (FG) yesterday directed Mobile Network Oeprators to update their customers SIM registrations with the National Identity Number (NIN), saying numbers without the update would be blocked by January 2021.

Daily Times reports that Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami), the minister of Communications and Digital Economy, made this known during an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in the Communications industry in Abuja.

In attendance of the meeting were;  The Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as well as the CEOs and Management staff of all service providers in the industry.

At the meeting, the need to consolidate the achievements of last year’s SIM registration audit and improve the performance and sanity of the sector was exhaustively discussed and all stakeholders agreed that urgent drastic measures have now become
inevitable to improve the integrity and transparency of the SIM registration process.

To this end, the following decisions were taken for immediate implementation by all Network Operators:

i.Affirmation of the earlier directive to totally suspend registration of NEW SIMs by all operators.

ii.Operators require ALL their subscribers to provide valid National Identification Number (NIN) to update SIM registration records.

iii.The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020 and end by 30 December, 2020).

iv. After the deadline, ALL SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks.

v.A Ministerial Task Force comprising the Minister and all the CEOs (among others) as members is to monitor compliance by all networks.

vi.Violations of this directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license.

A statement by the director of public affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, urged the general public to ensure that their NINs are captured in their SIM registration data, even as it regretted all inconveniences which might be occasioned by the new directive.

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