• Maida urges telephone users to take NIN-SIM linkage serious
The deadline for the linkage of subscribers Identification module (SIM) cards to National Identification Number (NIN) ended yesterday as directed by the Federal Government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The deadline was handed to telecoms operators in December 2023 by the Dr. Aminu Maida-led NCC to ensure that the about 224 million lines in Nigeria are identified.

9mobile, which issued disconnection notice to affected subscribers earlier in the week, had in a statement, disclosed that NCC had to revisit the process again because about 35 per cent of SIMs in use in the country have not been linked to NIN. The 35 per cent mentioned, when checked by The Guardian, showed that about 78 million telephones in the country are defective.

While uncertainty, as to possible extension of the deadline pervades the entire landscape, floods of subscribers were seen at the Lagos office of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), other outlets and mobile network offices (MNOs) offices across the country.

Some subscribers, who spoke with The Guardian, lamented their inability to make, especially outgoing calls, before the deadline.

Toyin Alabi, an MTN subscriber, said: “I have linked two times. But I discovered I can’t put a call through to people. I assumed they had blocked me, that is the reason I am here again today.”

A subscriber at 9mobile outlet in Ikorodu, Stella Ochoma, complained bitterly how she has been unable to link her NIN to her SIM due to large crowds at the outlet and improper coordination of officers at the outlet.

At the NIMC office, Alausa Ikeja, Chijioke Nelson, also complained of inability to fix his NIN. “This is my third time coming here. The crowd today (yesterday) is something else. Apparently because it is the last day of the deadline! So many telephone lines would be blocked. To make things worse, the online system is so slow and frustrating.”

Maida, while addressing participants at the 45th Kaduna International Trade Fair in Kaduna, charged subscribers to ensure they link their SIMs to NINs.

The EVC, who said NIN-SIM Linkage is a process of users connecting their NIN to their phone number to authenticate and protect their identity, said the process is compulsory for all phone users in the country.

“One major objective of linking subscribers’ NIN to SIM is to help improve and enhance national security in the country. As a matter of critical national issue, telecoms consumers must link their NIN to the SIM. To this end, the Commission has directed all telecommunication operators to bar phone lines of subscribers whose lines are not linked to their NINs on or before February 28, 2024,” he stated.

While the actual number of verified NINs cannot be ascertained yet, the Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) Gbenga Adebayo, said yesterday the process was almost completed, “but we await only field reports from members.”

Meanwhile, in the ruling by Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Lagos, telecoms operators were restrained from deactivating or barring any line or SIM not linked to their NINs following an application filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Olukoya Ogungbeje.

Ogungbeje filed a suit against MTN Nigeria when his SIMs were barred in April 2022, and the court, at the time, dismissed his suit for lack of merit. He later filed an appeal, pending at the court of appeal.

Ogungbeje has now asked the court for an injunction pending his appeal to restrain all the respondents (Federal Government of Nigeria, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice; MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and Airtel Networks Nigeria Limited) from further outright barring, deactivating and or restricting any SIM cards or phone lines on Feb. 28, 2024, or any other scheduled date, pending the hearing and determination of his appeal at the Court of Appeal of Nigeria.