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The Communications Commission has ruled out an extension of the February 28, 2024 deadline for the linkage of Subscriber Identity Module cards to National Identification Numbers.
As a result, telecommunication companies have been directed to bar 12 million lines which have not been linked to the owners’ NINs after the expiration of the deadline.
The Director of Public Affairs, NCC, Reuben Mouka, confirmed the development to The PUNCH on Wednesday.
Reaffirming the NCC’s stance, Mouka stated, “We already issued a public notice in this regard and all the information. If there was an extension, NCC would have communicated that. But as far as I know, there is no extension.”
In a December 2023 notice, the NCC had asked telcos to bar SIMs that had not been linked to their owners’ NINs by February 28, 2024.
It further asked the Global Satellite Mobile Communications firms to bar those whose NINs have been submitted but not verified by March 29, 2024; and interdict those who have less than five lines linked to an unverified NIN by April 15, 2024.
The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, confirmed to The PUNCH that telecom operators would comply with the NCC’s directive.
He said out of the 224 million active lines, about 12m lines risked deactivation.
Adebayo said, “About 12 million SIM cards may not have been linked to NIN. Some of these SIM cards work on modems and mifi devices. According to the regulatory directives, those numbers that are not properly linked to NIN will have services withdrawn to them by midnight today. We stand by that regulatory directive and we are going to comply,”
The ALTON chairman also dismissed speculations about a possible extension, stating that the deadline ought to have happened last year.
He declared, “No, the regulator has made it clear that there won’t be any further extension. Let us remember that this ought to have happened last year, but it was extended by the regulator till the 28th of February, 2024.”
Since the NCC first ordered the suspension of SIM cards without NIN on December 15, 2020, there had been a rapid increase in the number of people obtaining their NINs.
Between the period the order was given and the second deadline date, January 19, 2021, Nigerian mobile operators received 47.8m new submissions from active subscribers.
In 2021, about 21 million subscribers were yet to obtain their NIN, even as the deadline for registration approached.
A high-ranking official at MTN Nigeria, who was not authorised to comment publicly on the matter, informed The PUNCH that the company planned to disconnect the defaulting subscribers in compliance with the directive.
According to the official, there has not been any counter-directives from the NCC.
Emphasising that it is a federal issue, the official pointed out that some lines had been disconnected earlier.
“Remember, this is not an issue with the telcos. It’s a Federal Government issue, and before now, some lines were being disconnected. If they wanted to extend the deadline, they would have issued another notice, but they aren’t as I speak to you,” the official stated.
In response to the situation, a Public Relations official at Airtel Nigeria, Sam Adeoye, mentioned that Airtel would release an official statement on the development.
However, Chineze Amanfo, Lead, Public Relations at 9Mobile, did not respond to calls when contacted by reporters.
Meanwhile, the Federal High Court in Lagos has restrained telecom operators from deactivating or barring any line or SIM not linked to their NINs.
Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa restrained the telcos while ruling on an application filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje.
Lewis-Allagoa made the order on February 22, 2024, while ruling on a motion for the restraining orders filed by Ogungbeje.
Ogungbeje, in a suit marked FHC/L/CS/667/23, sued the Federal Government of Nigeria, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, and Airtel Network Nigeria Limited before the court.
He asked the court for an injunction pending appeal, ‘’restraining all the respondents jointly or severally, whether, by themselves, their agents, outlets, agencies, privies, officials, servants, men, parastatals, units, organs, or anybody or person however so called, from taking any step or action capable of enforcing the judgment in anyway and from further outright barring, deactivating and or restricting any SIM cards or his phone Lines, or of any Nigerian Citizen, slated for February 28, 2024, or any other scheduled date, pending the hearing and determination of his appeal at the Court of Appeal, against the court’s judgment delivered on May 8, 2023, by Justice Lewis-Allagoa.’’
When quizzed about the NCC’s reaction to the court injunction, Mouka responded, “We are not aware of any court injunction stopping the NCC from barring lines that have not been linked with NIN.”
Earlier today, at the ongoing 45th Kaduna International Trade, the Executive Vice Chairman, National Communication Commission, Dr. Aminu Maida, insisted that, as a matter of critical national security, telecom consumers must link their NIN to their SIM.
