The Federal Government has directed telecoms networks to bar outgoing calls on telephone lines that have not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage policy from Monday, April, 4, 2022.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the implementation of the Policy with effect from the 4th of April, 2022. Consequently, the Federal Government has directed all Telcos to strictly enforce the Policy on all SIMs issued (existing and new) in Nigeria,” a statement on Monday jointly signed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said.
“Outgoing calls will subsequently be barred for telephone lines that have not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage Policy from the 4th of April, 2022. Subscribers of such lines are hereby advised to link their SIMs to their NINs before the Telcos 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.”
The statement further said that over 125 million SIMs have had their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication. Similarly, the NIMC has issued over 78 million unique NINs to date.
Minister of communications and digital economy Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) commended the executive vice-chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Dambatta, and the DG/CEO of the NIMC Aliyu Abubakar for “the monumental success of the exercise.”
Pantami emphasised that enrolment for the NIN is a continuous exercise and encouraged Nigerians and legal residents to visit NIN registration centers for the enrolment and issuance of valid NINs.
