The Federal Government has ordered telecommunication operators to block all SIM cards without a valid National Identification Number (NIN) by 31 December.
A statement released by the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy on Tuesday evening noted that the decision was arrived at after an emergency meeting of key stakeholders in the communications industry on Monday, December. Participants at the meeting included 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.
The decision, the statement says, was made in order to consolidate the progress made from the 2019 SIM registration audit and improve the performance and sanity of the sector.
At the meeting, the stakeholders resolved on the immediate implementation by all network operators of the affirmation of the earlier directive to totally suspend the registration of new SIMs by all operators; operators to require all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update SIM registration records; and the submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from 16 December 2020 and end by 30 December 2020). After the deadline expires, all SIMs without NINs are to be blocked from the networks. The ministry also designated a Ministerial Task Force comprising the Minister and all the CEOs (among others) as members to monitor compliance by all networks.
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It will be recalled that the federal government through the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy had on Wednesday 9, suspended the registration of new SIM cards pending the completion of a new audit. The government did not however say when it plans to conclude the audit which has left many players in the sector rattled.
Many analysts had told BusinessDay the move was aimed at bridging the identity loopholes in the country’s security system. There have been many reports of how criminal elements and terrorist suspects use different SIM cards that are untraceable because they were not properly registered.
Worried by the rising spate of these reports, the Nigerian senate summoned Ali Isa Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy in November.
While responding to the senate summons the Minister had claimed that there were no unregistered SIMs in the country, however, if there was evidence to the contrary that the individuals and operators will be sanctioned.
Interestingly, the new directive is coming barely days after the country woke up to the news that suspected terrorists have kidnapped students of a boarding school in Katsina. The kidnapped boys whose exact number is yet to be officially confirmed, are still with their abductors according to many state reports.
In the meantime, the government would appear to be taking the digital identity project too seriously as it has vowed to deal with any operators that would not comply with the new SIM update directives.
“As the NCC gave telecommunications operators (MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9Mobile and others) two weeks to block all SIM cards that are not linked with the National Identity Numbers (NIN), if already enrolled, dial *346# to retrieve your NIN,” Bashir Ahmed, a media aide for President Muhammadu Buhari tweeted on Tuesday.
