SIM-NIN: Deactivated Subscribers Want Extension

The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers has requested the Federal Government to extend the NIN-SIM policy deadline by three months.

On Monday, The Federal Government through telecom companies had barred Nigerians who refused to link their SIMs and NINs together from making calls. This was aimed at enforcing compliance with the Federal Government’s SIM-NIN policy.

Due to this recent development, A large number of telecommunication subscribers trying to link their National Identification Number and Subscriber Identity Module together were left stranded as heavy traffic on telecom networks slowed down the process.

Also Read: Telecom Operators Threaten Tariff Hike Over Cost of Doing Business

Speaking on the development, The President of the association, Adeolu Ogunbanjo says telecom service centres are likely to continue to witness an increase in human traffic if the Federal Government doesn’t consider extending the implementation of the SIM-NIN policy by three months.

Ogunbanjo explain that, “I was at the service centres today and they were jampacked. All the network operating centres were jam-packed.

“People were complaining about their inability to make outgoing calls. The implementation of the SIM-NIN is a problem. Again, NIMC doesn’t have the required capacity to process large volumes of data.

“The rush is serious. The (enrolment) centres were all complaining about the slow pace of the linking process. The crowd is growing and there is little they can do in one day because the network is slow now. This is unfortunate. We are pushing for at least another three-month extension.

“Now that they have at least implemented the policy, Nigerians now know why they cannot make calls if they do not link their SIMs. No more ongoing calls. It is time for the government to draw back and extend the deadline by another three months and finally implement.”

Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, added that the number of subscribers trying to link their SIMs and NINs together had increased.

He says, “It has been a lot of pressure at various experience centres. There has also been a lot of pressure on the systems.

“Unfortunately, we have been on this for fourteen months – many people didn’t respond to the calls to link their SIM to their NIN, and so we are where we are.”

Meanwhile, The Nigerian Communications Commission revealed on its portal that there were 197.77 million active telecom subscribers as of February 2022 and about 72.77 million active telecom subscribers currently have issues pertaining to SIM-NIN linkage.