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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has instructed mobile operators in the country, MTN, Airtel, Glo and 9 Mobile, to block all SIMs without National Identity Numbers (NINs) from their networks as from 31 December 2020.
This directive was contained in press statement published today on the NCC website.
According to the Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, Director, Public Affairs in the press statement, all telecoms subscribers in the country are enjoined to submit their NINs to update SIM registration records within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020 to 30 December, 2020).
This follows the earlier directive from the telecoms regulator to the network operators to suspend registration of new SIMs. NCC said it wants to embark on another audit of the Subscriber Registration Database again.
It said that the objective of the audit exercise was to verify and ensure compliance by Mobile Network Operators with the set quality standards and requirements of SIM Card Registration as issued by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy and the Commission.
Here is the full press statement as published on the NCC website:
PRESS STATEMENT: IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW SIM REGISTRATION RULES
Following the earlier directive on the suspension of new SIM registration by network operators, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) convened an urgent meeting of key stakeholders in the Communications industry on Monday, December 14, 2020.
The meeting had in attendance the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) and Management of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), as well as the CEOs and Management staff of all service providers in the industry.
At the meeting, the need to consolidate the achievements of last year’s SIM registration audit and improve the performance and sanity of the sector was exhaustively discussed and all stakeholders agreed that urgent drastic measures have now become inevitable to improve the integrity and transparency of the SIM registration process.
To this end, the following decisions were taken for immediate implementation by all Network Operators:
i. Affirmation of the earlier directive to totally suspend registration of NEW SIMs by all operators.
ii. Operators to require ALL their subscribers to provide valid National Identification Number (NIN) to update SIM registration records.
iii. The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020 and end by 30 December, 2020).
iv. After the deadline, ALL SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks.
v. A Ministerial Task Force comprising the Minister and all the CEOs (among others) as members is to monitor compliance by all networks.
vi. Violations of this directive will be met by stiff sanctions, including the possibility of withdrawal of operating license.
The general public is hereby urged to ensure that their NINs are captured in their SIM registration data.
All inconveniences which might be occasioned by this directive are deeply regretted.
Signed:
Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde
Director, Public Affairs
December 15, 2020
As laudable as this objective may seem, it’s difficult to fathom how all subscribers would get their NINs and submit to the telecom operators within two weeks.
All other institutions that have tried to enforce the submission of NINs such as the banks, Pension Funds Administrators (PFAs), Immigration to mention but a few, are still trying to get their customers to submit their NINs and it is an ongoing battle.
If this directive is enforced, it might really cause a lot of inconveniences for subscribers in general.
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