In a move to bolster national security and digital economy, Nigerian telecommunications operators have begun the process of notifying subscribers with SIM irregularities to link their SIMs with their National Identification Numbers (NIN).
This initiative comes in the wake of an order by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which has set a deadline of February 28 to block all unlinked SIMs.
As of August 2023, the operators had a total of 220 million subscriptions, with industry giant MTN leading the pack with 85 million. Since the mandatory NIN-SIM linkage commenced in December 2020, the telecommunications industry witnessed a loss of over 20 million subscriptions.
However, this number saw a gradual recovery as more Nigerians heeded the call to register for NIN. Despite the recovery, an estimated 10 to 12 million lines remain dormant and unrecovered.
Major operators like Globacom have swung into action by sending messages to affected customers, urging them to re-register and link their NINs. The causes of the unlinked SIMs range from computing and integration errors to incomplete registration and gaps in biometrics data.
Public Response and NCC’s Stance
As a result of the ongoing exercise, crowds have returned in droves to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) offices to resolve their NIN-related issues. The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, has underscored the importance of NIN for security and the digital economy. He called on all subscribers to proactively link their SIMs before the looming deadline.
