By Ishaya Ibrahim, News Editor
Chaos looms over a planned mass disconnection of all SIMs cards not linked to the owners’ National Identity Number (NIN).
According to a press statement by the National Communications Communication (NCC), Minister of communication, Isa Ali Pantami, gave the order to telecommunication companies to disconnect all SIMs without NIN.
More troubling is that the almost 185 million GSM subscribers in Nigeria have only two weeks to provide their NIN to their telecommunication companies or risk getting blocked.
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The confusion is even more for those who have not yet enrolled for the NIN. It takes an average of two weeks to get enrolled. Foreigners are also not being enrolled. So, what does this portend for social and economic life of people that could be affected by this haphazard affair?
The NCC said the order came from Pantami who warned the telecommunication companies of grave consequences if they failed to comply with his directive within two weeks.
The NCC press statement, signed by Ikechukwu Adinde, the
Director, Public Affairs reads:
“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.”
