As part of measures to improve security in the country, all telephone lines which Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) not linked to National Identity Numbers (NIN) have been partially deactivated.
The deactivation order took effect yesterday following President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive.
To affect the order, all outgoing calls by defaulting subscribers have been barred. About 72.7million lines may be affected by the directive.
A joint statement by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Director of Public Affairs, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde and National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Director of Corporate Communications Mr Kayode Adegoke, announced the decision yesterday.
However, there is an open window for defaulters to do so at designated NIMC centers nationwide.
Data made available by NCC in February showed that there are 303,636,267 connected GSM mobile lines in the country out of which 197,768,482 were active.
The statement explained that of 125 million SIMs submitted for immediate linkage with NIN, 78 million had so far been issued unique NINs. Unique NIN is simply the attachment of subscribers’ names to their SIMs.
In the past two years, the govt has shifted the period of the enforcement of the policy to ensure that subscribers were captured in the database of NIMC.
The statement reads: “On behalf of the Federal Government, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, 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 till date.