By Nana Dariem
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami
The Nigerian Communications Commission has disclosed that 47.8 million National Identity Numbers have been submitted by telecommunication companies for verification in order to have them linked with their respective Subscriber Identification Modules.
A statement signed by the Director Public Affairs, NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, said so far a total of 47.8 million NINs had been collected by the mobile operators.
At an average of 3 to 4 SIMs per subscriber, this means many millions will be linked up before the deadline in February 2021.
According to him at the end of a review meeting on 18th January 2021, the Technical Implementation Committee under the Ministerial Task Force had reported significant progress in the ongoing NIN-SIM linkage exercise.
Reacting to the report, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, expressed satisfaction with this commendable achievement, and also expressed the Federal Government’s appreciation for the commitment demonstrated by all stakeholders and citizens, while urging them to submit their NINs before 9th February, 2021 deadline.
The Minister urged the technical team to fast-track the processes so that the project is delivered soonest.
The Technical Committee drew attention to the App developed by FGN, which allows subscribers to link up to a maximum of seven (7) SIMs to their NIN.
Dr. Pantami also encouraged Nigerians to secure and protect their NINs, urging subscribers to desist from selling their NINs or allowing others to use their NINs for registration.
“For any action committed with the SIM good or bad it will be officially traced and attached to the NIN owner”, Pantami warned.
