In a swift response to the weekend’s mass disconnections, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has ordered the immediate reactivation of all mobile lines disconnected due to NIN-SIM verification issues.
This was disclosed in a statement on Monday.
The decision was made considering the limited time left for consumers to verify their NINs with their SIMs.
The NCC therefore urged all unverified subscribers to take advantage of this opportunity to link their NIN to their SIM as soon as possible, to avoid future disruptions and maintain access to their lines.
Since December 2023, the Commission has since reviewed the deadline a few times. April 15, 2024 was set as the deadline for the full network barring of subscribers with four or fewer SIMs that had unverified NIN details.
This deadline was then reviewed to July 31, 2024, to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified. Despite these extensions, many phone lines are yet to be linked with verified NINs.
The objectives of this exercise by the Federal Government of Nigeria include enhancing national security and ensuring the national SIM ownership database is accurate.
The NIN-SIM linkage policy aids in verifying and protecting users’ identities while also providing a critical infrastructure that assures access to the benefits of a robust digital economy for the citizenry.