The federal government has directed telecommunication companies to bar all outgoing calls on unlinked lines from today, April 4, 2022.
The Director of public affairs at NCC, Ikechukwu Adinde, and Kayode Adegoke, head, of corporate communications at NIMC, said in a joint statement that the directive to bar all outgoing calls on sims not yet registered and linked with the National Identification Number (NIN) came after several extensions of deadlines.
“It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, gave the directive for the implementation and commencement of the exercise in December 2020, as part of the administration’s security and social policies. The deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage have been extended on multiple occasions to allow Nigerians to freely comply with the Policy. The FG also took into consideration the passionate appeals by several bodies – Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Civil Societies, Professional Bodies, and a host of others – for the extension of the deadlines in the past.
“Accordingly, Mr. President graciously approved the many requests to extend deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage. At this point, however, Government has determined that the NIN-SIM Policy implementation can proceed, as machinery has already been put in place to ensure compliance by citizens and legal residents. The implementation impacts on Government’s strategic planning, particularly in the areas of security and socio-economic projections.,” he said.
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