Nigerian Communications Commission to deactivate SIM cards not linked to National Identity Numbers NIN
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has ordered telecommunication companies to bar calls from phone numbers that are yet to be linked to their National Identity Numbers (NIN) from Friday, 29 March.
Penpushing reports that the Director of Public Affairs of the Commission Reuben Muoka made this known declaring that the directive for disconnection is being rolled out in stages, with the second phase set for March 29, 2024 as earlier announced.
‘We issued a publication that you can refer to. We specified certain deadlines and stipulated that subscribers who do not comply with the directive would be barred. And that has not changed. 29th of February was when those that have not submitted their NIN to be linked to the SIM to be barred and those have been barred’, he said.
‘We published another deadline for those who have submitted their NIN but it failed because it has not been verified, that is the one that is due for disconnection today. While another set is the ones with ghost verification, these are for those who have more than five numbers’, Mouka added.
The Director of Public Affairs of the Commission explained that the commission is committed to ensuring that criminals do not take advantage of having multiple unlinked SIMs to carry out their nefarious activities.
Penpushing further reports that it is recalled that the Max-4 rule announced by the Nigerian Government in April 2021 provides that telecom subscribers cannot have more than four lines per mobile network operator.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has equally provided Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) an extension till 31 July, to verify all NINs submitted by subscribers with four or fewer SIMs, as well as bar those whose NINs fail verification with NIMC.
Penpushing also reports that the compulsory linkage began in 2020 when the government directed telecommunication companies to block calls from unregistered and unlinked lines, while the policy was expected to help the authorities in fighting bandits and terrorists who kidnap and kill innocent people daily, however, despite the extension of deadlines, many phone lines are yet to be linked.
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