The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has set 14 September 2024 as the final registration date for subscriber identification module (SIM) subscribers, just under four years since the country’s SIM registration procedure began.
This week the NCC urged mobile network operators to complete the mandatory SIM verification and linking to National Identity Numbers (NINs) by that date.
In Nigeria, compulsory SIM registration began in December 2020, when the government ordered telecom operators to disable unregistered SIMs. There were then a number of extensions, most recently to 31 July this year, as a large number of SIMs still required verification.
That said, the NCC estimates that over 153 million SIMs have been successfully linked to a NIN, reflecting a compliance rate of 96% which, it describes as “a substantial increase from 69.7% in January 2024”.
Any mobile numbers that are not linked to NINs by 14 September 14 will be blocked by network operators, meaning that no SIM operating in Nigeria will be without a valid NIN. Ensuring NIN-SIM linkage, or getting support to do so, involves subscribers visiting their service providers or using approved self-service portals.
Bizarrely, according to the Nairametrics website, the NCC recently claimed it had uncovered cases of individual Nigerians registering over 100,000 lines to their names, saying: “Through collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the NCC has uncovered alarming cases where individuals possessed an unusually high number of SIM cards — some exceeding 100,000.”
That figure certainly exceeds the offical limit. Under the NIN-SIM linkage policy, an individual is allowed to register a maximum of four SIM cards per network operator, though this does not include IoT devices such as wearable trackers.
