The Federal Government has instructed that any telecoms subscriber who fails to submit his/her National Identity Number (NIN) to its network provider be blocked from the network from December 31.
This is following government reaffirmation on its position on suspension of new SIM card registration across the country.
This decision was reached at a stakeholders meeting convened by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami.
This is contained in a statement signed and issued by the Director, Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Ikechukwu Adinde.
The statement said the decisions taken for immediate implementation by all network operators include “affirmation of the earlier directive to totally suspend the registration of new SIMs by all operators.
“Operators to require all their subscribers to provide valid National Identification Number (NIN) to update SIM registration records.
“The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020, and end by 30 December 2020).
“After the deadline, all SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks.
“A Ministerial Task Force comprising the minister and all the CEOs (among others) as members is to monitor compliance by all networks.
“Violations of this directive will be met by sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license.”
The meeting was graced with the presence of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as well as the CEOs and management staff of all service providers in the industry.
