President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered telecommunication companies in the country to bar all outgoing calls from unlinked NIN-SIM lines from today.
The directive was announced in a statement jointly issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
While Ikechukwu Adinde signed for NCC, Mr Kayode Adegoke signed for NIMC.
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According to the statement, over 125 million lines have had their NINs submitted for linkage, verification, and authentication.
NIMC on its part has issued over 78 million unique NINs to date.
The full statement,
NIN-SIM Linkage: Federal Government Commends Compliance and Directs Telcos to Bar Outgoing Calls on Unlinked Lines from 4th April 2022
On behalf of the Federal Government, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has commended Nigerians and legal residents for their support during the exercise to link the National Identification Number (NIN) to the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM).
As of date, over 125 million SIMs have had their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication. Similarly, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has issued over 78 million unique NINs to date.
It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, gave the directive for the implementation and commencement of the exercise in December 2020, as part of the administration’s security and social policies.
The deadline for the NIN-SIM linkage has been extended on multiple occasions to allow Nigerians to freely comply with the policy. The FG also took into consideration the passionate appeals by several bodies – Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), civil societies, professional bodies, and a host of others – for the extension of the deadlines in the past.
Accordingly, Mr President graciously approved the many requests to extend deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage. At this point, however, the government has determined that the NIN-SIM Policy implementation can proceed, as machinery has already been put in place to ensure compliance by citizens and legal residents.