The Federal Government Extends the NIN-SIM Linkage Until June 30
The Federal Government Extends the NIN-SIM Linkage Until June 30
Nigeria's Federal Government has extended the deadline for mobile subscribers to link their National Identity Number (NIN) to their SIM cards once more. With the new deadline of June 30, the NIN-SIM linkage exercise will have received its fourth extension.
The two-month extension from the original May 6 deadline comes in response to complaints from several Nigerians, including UTME candidates who have yet to register for the NIN.
The latest decision was reached following a meeting between the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, and other industry stakeholders, including Prof Umar Dambatta, Executive Vice Chairman of the National Communications Commission, and Engr Aliyu Azeez, Director General of the National Identity Management Commission.
Reason for another extension
They stated that the deadline extension was made in response to a request from stakeholders who stated that deferring the exercise until June 30 will make registration easier for all citizens and legal residents.
"Meaningful progress has been made in the process of verifying the NIN-SIM. For example, nearly 54 million people have obtained their NIN, which translates to up to 190 million mobile numbers, assuming that each unique NIN corresponds to three to four phone lines. According to the statement, the long-awaited Android enrollment system is now available for deployment, which can significantly improve the speed and ease of enrollments.
According to NIMC, registration will continue for the next eight weeks to allow Nigerians additional time to complete their NIN registrations and SIM linkage exercises.
According to the statement, telecom providers and other enrollment agents have also opened several centers to assist eligible citizens and residents in obtaining and linking their NINs.
According to Daily Trust, sections 27 and 29 of the National Identity Management Commission Act 2007 mandate the use of the National Identity Number when accessing a variety of government services.
This is comparable to how the Social Security Number and National Insurance Number are used in the USA and the United Kingdom, respectively, to gain access to services.
Pantami thanked Nigerians for their patience and compliance with the Federal Government's directive on the NIN-SIM registration exercise, according to the statement.
“He reaffirmed the government's commitment to making decisions that alleviate citizens' pain points related to NIN and SIM registration,” the statement said.
This is the Federal Government's fourth deadline extension since the start of the NIN-SIM exercise. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had previously directed telecom operators to block SIM cards that were not registered with the Nigerian Identification Number (NIN) by December 30.
The repeated extensions of the deadline for NIN linkage demonstrate that the process has been plagued by numerous technical and human errors thus far.
However, with over 146 million Nigerians still waiting for their NIN, a fifth consecutive extension of the NIN-SIM verification deadline may suffice for the time being.
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