43 million NINs to be verified by NIMC, telecom operators
About 43 million National Identity Numbers (NINs) have been submitted by telecom operators to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for verification. This is to have them registered with their respective Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs).
As the deadline for the integration of NIN with SIM ended on January 19, 2021, Telecommunication companies have assured Nigerians that they won’t block SIMs with unlinked submitted NINs.
Speaking on behalf of the telecoms firms, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, disclosed that, the NINs has been sent to NIMC for verification in order to ensure that the numbers were harmonized with their respective SIMs.
He added further that, “I don’t have the number of SIM cards that have been linked but at the last count, NIMC told us that they have about 43 million Nigerians who have NINs. So, we will be safe to assume that a large percentage of these citizens have delivered their NINs to the operators by way of dialling the USSD access code and/or visiting the operators’ websites and uploading their NINs on the websites.”
Adebayo pointed out that the responsibility is now that of the commission to educate the public on the number of NINs that had been verified and cleared for harmonization with SIMS.
On whether the government would block the SIMs of subscribers who don’t yet have their SIMs registered despite submitting their NINs to their service providers, the ALTON chairman said such SIMs would not be blocked.
He gave the assurance this way, “If you already have your NIN and you have delivered the number to your service provider and it has been acknowledged and forwarded to NIMC, I don’t think the penalty will be there for you if your SIM has not been registered with the NIN.
“This is because as far as you are concerned as a subscriber, you have uploaded that number to your operator and forwarded to NIMC. Now, further interrogation of that means that you are not supposed to be penalized because you have done what you are required to do to your service provider and to NIMC.”
The ALTON Chairman concluded that those who will be penalized are those who do not have the NIN and who were unable to deliver their NINs to their service providers.
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