The Federal Government of Nigeria has directed telecommunication operators to bar outgoing calls from phone numbers not linked to the National Identification Number (NIN) in order to tackle rising insecurity in the country.
This directive took effect on Monday, April 4.
It was gathered that about 73 million phone lines that are not linked to the National Identification Number (NIN). Out of the nation’s 198 million phone connections, 125 million SIM cards had been verified and linked to 78 million unique National Identification Number.
A statement by Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, Director, Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Mr. Kayode Adegoke, Head, Corporate Communications, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) reads:
“Consequently, the Federal Government has directed all telcos to strictly enforce the policy on all SIMs issued (existing and new) in Nigeria.
“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.
“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).
“Accordingly, Mr. President graciously approved the many requests to extend deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage.
“At this point, however, 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.”
