Effective today, April 4, 2022, the Federal Government has instructed telecommunications carriers such as MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile to block all outgoing calls from any Subscriber Identification Module cards that have not yet been linked to a National Identification Number.
Isa Pantami, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, announced the decision in a statement on Monday, saying it was part of the government’s NIN-SIM linking policy execution.
Ikechukwu Adinde, Director of Public Affairs at the Nigerian Communications Commission, and Kayode Adegoke, Head of Corporate Communications at the National Identity Management Commission, jointly signed the statement.
As part of the regime’s “security and social policies,” the Federal Government mandated that telecommunications subscribers link their SIMs with their NINs by December 2020. However, many Nigerians have questioned the effectiveness of the NIN-SIM linkage, as kidnappers of Abuja-Kaduna train passengers and others continue to call victims’ families to demand ransom and go untraced with their NINs.
Pantami stated in a statement released on Monday that over 125 million SIM cards have had their NINs submitted for linkage, verification, and authentication to far, with the NIMC issuing over 78 million NINs.
The statement was titled, ‘NIN-SIM Linkage: Federal Government Commends Compliance and Directs Telcos to Bar Outgoing Calls on Unlinked Lines from 4th April, 2022’.
Part of the statement read, “Accordingly, Mr. President graciously approved the many requests to extend deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage.
“At this point, however, Government has determined that the NIN-SIM Policy implementation can proceed, as machinery has already been put in place to ensure compliance by citizens and legal residents. The implementation impacts on Government’s strategic planning, particularly in the areas of security and socio-economic projections.
“President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the implementation of the Policy with effect from the 4th of April, 2022. Consequently, the Federal Government has directed all Telcos to strictly enforce the Policy on all SIMs issued (existing and new) in Nigeria.
“Outgoing calls will subsequently be barred for telephone lines that have not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage Policy from the 4th of April, 2022.
“Subscribers of such lines are hereby advised to link their SIMs to their NINs before the Telcos can lift the restriction on their lines. Affected individuals are hereby advised to register for their NINs at designated centres and thereafter link the NINs to their SIMs through the channels provided by NIMC and the Telcos, including the NIMC mobile App.”
