Monday, March 04, 2024 –The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given reasons why some telecommunications subscribers who previously linked their SIM cards to their National Identification Numbers (NINs) have their mobile lines barred.
In an interview with Channels TV, Reuben
Muoka, on Monday, March 4, Mouka said;
“People who probably didn’t get a cleared
or verified NIN have been barred because the earlier ones they submitted was
not good. There are still some subscribers whose NINs are yet to be verified by
NIMC and those have to also be corrected,” he said.
Many subscribers have complained that they
had previously linked their NIN with their SIM cards years ago but the NCC
official said some lines were barred because the information on the NIN did not
tally with what the customers register with their SIM cards. He said
subscribers will have to visit the outlets of their service providers to
validate their NINs and resolve other matters.
“For now, it requires those physical visits
to the stations to get it verified and validated but in the future, we hope
that this will be done virtually,” the NCC spokesman said
The NCC had last week issued a directive to
telecom service providers to bar subscribers who have failed to link their
phone numbers to their NIN on or before February 28, 2024.
Mouka said it will be difficult to tell the
actually number of phone lines that have been barred but the NCC will do an
audit before the end of the week as data are expected from service providers.
He added that the NIN-SIM linkage has an objective which is to make Nigerians
have digital identity to tackle security matters.
“The whole essence is actually to achieve
the convenience that digital services and products will offer. By the time you
have your identity together, you will be able to attend to a number of things.
Even the banks are now asking their customers to link their NINs to their Bank
Verification Numbers (BVNs). It is actually to make a holistic package of all
your digital services,” he said
As of December 2023, Nigeria has over 224
million, according to data by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). MTN
boast of over 87 million subscribers, representing 38.79% of the total market
share, the highest in the country by any licensed Mobile Network
Operator (MNO). Globacom and Airtel have 61
million subscribers each while 9mobile has 13.9 million users.
Millions of lines were barred last week at
the expiration of the deadline but the regulator’s spokesman said the NCC has
been going through one deadline after the other since 2022 “to give extension
for convenience but it is time to get to a closure”.
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