FG Announces Final Deadline For NIN Registration, Blocking Of SIM Cards

The federal government on Tuesday, January 19, insisted that the February 9 deadline for the complete linkage of the National Identification Number (NIN) with SIMS still stands.

Speaking on the development, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) said the telecoms operators have been told to shut down SIMs not linked with NIN after the last day.

Nigerians have been urging the government to extend the deadline, citing the population of the country and the outdated facilities of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) impending the full integration of subscribers into the NCC database.

But NCC, through the Technical Implementation Committee (TIC) under the Ministerial Task Force (MTF), said there is no going back on its decision.

It, however, expressed satisfaction over the turnout and “impressive response” of Nigerians as 47.8 million subscribers have submitted their NIN to their respective service providers, Daily Sun reports.

Part of the statement issued by NCC director of public affairs, Ikechukwu Adinde, read:

“So far, a total of 47.8 million NINs have 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.”