President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the implementation of NIN-SIM Policy and directed Telephone companies (Telcos) to bar all outgoing calls on unlinked cell phone lines from April 4.

Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, Director, Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and Mr Kayode Adegoke, Head, Corporate Communications, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said this in a joint statement on Monday, April 4, in Abuja.

The statement said that Buhari also commended Nigerians and legal residents for their support during the exercise to link the National Identification Number (NIN) to the Subscriber Identification Module (SIM).

The spokespersons said the government had determined that the NIN-SIM Policy implementation could proceed as machineries were already put in place to ensure compliance by citizens and legal residents.

They advised affected individuals to register for their NINs at designated centres and thereafter link the NINs to their SIMs through the channels provided by NIMC and the Telcos, including the NIMC mobile App.

“The implementation impacts on government’s strategic planning, particularly in the areas of security and socio-economic projections.

“The government has directed all Telcos to strictly enforce the Policy on all existing and new SIMs issued in Nigeria.

“Outgoing calls will subsequently be barred for telephone lines that have not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage Policy from the 4th of April, 2022.

“Subscribers of such lines are hereby advised to link their SIMs to their NINs before the Telcos can lift the restriction on their lines,” they said.

They said that as of date, over 125 million SIMs have their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication, adding that NIMC had issued over 78 million unique NINs till date.

https://newsroundtheclock.com/buhari-directs-telcos-to-bar-calls-on-unlinked-lines-in-nin-sim-policy/

Weak retired general.