No extension - Telcos speak on NIN-SIM linkage deadline in Nigeria

Telecommunications companies say no extension exists for the National Identity Number and Subscribers Identification Module linkage deadline.

Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, disclosed this in an exclusive interview with nwsmen on Thursday.

He noted that Telcos have a regulatory directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, to withdraw services from subscribers without NIN-SIM.

"There won't be an extension. We have regulatory directives to withdraw service from subscribers whose NINs are not linked to their SIM. And we are doing exactly that. So, there is no extension; we are unaware of any extension", he said.

Torizone reports that the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers, NATCOMS, and Adeolu Ogunbanjo appealed for a 30-day NIN-SIM linkage deadline extension.

Torizone recalls that in December, telecom operators, on the directives of NCC, had insisted on the February 28 deadline to bar subscribers without NIN-SIM linkage.

The regulators had said the move was necessary to tame rising insecurity in the country.

Consequently, NCC issued a directive to telecom service providers to bar subscribers who failed to link their NIN-SIM successfully.

Torizone recalls that in 2020, Isa Pantami, the former Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, announced the integration policy of SIM cards into the NIN database.