The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has ordered all telecommunication companies in the country to reactivate all lines they have barred over issues surrounding the linking and verification of National Identification Numbers (NIN) linked with their SIMs.
The sudden U-turn from the regulator, which had earlier given the telecom operators a July 31 deadline to bar all lines with unverified NINs, may not be unconnected with the planned protest and the claims that the government was trying to frustrate the protest through telecommunications.
Millions of lines were barred by MTN, Airtel, Globacom, 9mobile, and other telecom operators over the weekend throwing the affected subscribers into shock and disbelief as many of them claimed their lines had been linked with NIN long before now.
According to a statement issued on Monday afternoon by the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, the lines were blocked by the telecom service providers in keeping with the laws and policies of the NIN-SIM linkage.
The telecom regulator, however, said it was aware of the challenges caused by the weekend blockages and ordered the telecom operators to unbar all the lines.
While noting that the objectives of the NIN-SIM linkage exercise by the Federal Government of Nigeria are to enhance national security and ensure the national SIM ownership database is accurate, the Commission said it is giving the affected subscribers more time to properly link their SIMs.
“The consumer is our priority, therefore, considering the challenges the blockages have caused, the Commission has directed all operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend in view of the short time available for consumers to undertake the verification of their NINs with their SIMs.
“Reactivated consumers are to note that this is for a limited period to allow them to properly link their NIN to their SIM,” the Commission stated.
It added that the NIN-SIM linkage policy aids in verifying and protecting users’ identities while also providing a critical infrastructure that assures access to the benefits of a robust digital economy for the citizenry.
Backstory
Over the weekend many telecom subscribers/consumers were unable to access their phone lines because of the inability of many telecom consumers to verify their National Identification Numbers (NINs) with their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs).
Recall the compulsory linkage of NIN with SIM which began in December 2020 when the government directed telecommunication companies to bar unregistered SIM cards and SIMs that were not linked to NIN.
Since December 2023, the Commission has reviewed the deadline a few times; April 15, 2024, was set as the deadline for the full network barring subscribers with four or fewer SIMs that had unverified NIN details. This deadline was then reviewed to July 31, 2024, to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified. Despite these extensions, many phone lines are yet to be linked with verified NINs.
Meanwhile, earlier on Monday, the telecom operators had to debunk widely spreading rumours that the latest barring of SIMs was an attempt to frustrate the planned protest billed to start August 1.
According to them, it was just a coincidence that the barring of lines by telecommunications companies was coming at a time when some Nigerians were preparing for a protest. Some youth groups are planning a nationwide protest from Aug. 1 to Aug. 10, to demand solutions to the rising cost of living and economic hardship in the country.
