Telecommunication operators have disabled no less than 40 million telephone lines over the weekend, complying with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s directive that mandates telecom consumers to connect their Subscriber Identity Module to their National Identity Numbers, effective February 28, 2024.
This signifies a significant rise from the 12 million lines initially intended for deactivation by telcos, following the NCC order.
In a December 2023 advisory, the NCC requested telcos to block SIMs not linked to their owners’ NINs by the said deadline.
The NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka, clarified on Thursday that the deadline would not be extended, and non-compliant telcos would be penalized.
The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, disclosed that 12 million lines would be barred as a result of the order.
In an interview, Adebayo mentioned, “I can tell you that over 40 million lines have been blocked, and the affected customers are those who didn’t submit their NIN at all. Some persons have not presented any NIN to operators. They haven’t registered their SIMs or participated in the harmonisation programme. They simply haven’t made any presentation of the NIN number to their operators, and those were the persons blocked. So why is the number so alarming despite repeated warnings? It shows many people still communicate but are not registered.”
In the same December 2023 advisory, the NCC also urged the Global Satellite Mobile Communications operators to block SIM holders whose NINs were submitted but not verified by March 29, 2024; and halt the services of those with less than five lines linked to an unverified NIN by April 15, 2024.
The Federal Government introduced the SIM-NIN synchronisation initiative on December 16, 2020, to help security agencies trace criminals. The synchronisation involves validating the NIN with the National Identity Management Commission and matching the subscriber’s NIN records with the SIM registration information (verification) to ensure proper subscriber identification.
However, Nigerians have expressed concerns about the apparent lack of use of the SIM-NIN linkage by security agencies in tracking criminals, particularly bandits and kidnappers who frequently use mobile telephone lines during ransom negotiations.
As per the information released by the NCC on its website, there are currently 224.7 million active mobile telephone lines in the country.
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