Tobi Adebayo
The deadline for linking Subscriber Identification Modules cards (SIM) with valid National Identity Numbers (NIN) has been extended by the Federal Government on Friday.
The announcement was made in a statement issued in Abuja by the spokesperson of the National Identity Management Commission, Kayode Adegoke.
According to the statement, the deadline was extended by a month.
“The meeting took place on Thursday, April 1, 2021, and approval was given to extend the period of the NIN-SIM linkage to the 6th of May, 2021.
“The request for the extension was presented to President Muhammadu Buhari and he endorsed it.
““There are many people who have enrolled and are in the process of being assigned NINs.
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“With each individual having an average of three to four SIMs, the total number of SIMs tied to NINs would close to the total number of registered SIMs in the country.
“The current number of monthly enrollments had increased significantly to about 2.6 million registrations.
“There has also been a remarkable increase in the number of enrolment centres across the country with about 3,800 centres available for enrollments,” the statement read in part.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami and attended by key stakeholders, including the NIMC, Nigerian Communications Commission, National Information Technology Development Agency, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, Nigeria Immigration Service and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria.
Others include the managing directors of MTN, Airtel, EMTS (9Mobile), NTEL, Spectranet and SMILE and the Chief Operating Officer of Glo.
