The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that owners of the over 40 million barred telephone lines will soon be unable to make calls.
According to the NCC, the 40 million lines were barred due to the owners’ failure to link their SIM cards with their National Identification Number (NIN).
In an interview with The PUNCH, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka, explained that the telecom operators’ decision to bar lines followed the February 28, 2024 deadline set by the commission.
The deadline mandated telecom customers to link their Subscriber Identity Modules (SIM) to their NIN.
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He said:
“If the barred lines are not acted upon in the next 180 days. They won’t be able to receive calls but will only be able to text and make calls.
“But after the stipulated days, they would be barred from making calls too.
“And might forfeit their lines to their respective service provider within 365 days.”
Major telcos in Nigeria, including MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, and Globacom, initiated the process of barring lines not linked to NIN starting from February 28, 2024.
The NCC has ruled out any possibility of extending the deadline, which was initially issued in December 2023.
The Federal Government introduced the SIM-NIN synchronization initiative on December 16, 2020, aiming to enhance security agencies’ ability to track criminals.
The synchronization involved validating the NIN with the National Identity Management Commission and cross-referencing the subscriber’s NIN records with the SIM registration information to ensure accurate subscriber identification.
However, some Nigerians have raised questions about why security agencies have not effectively utilized the SIM-NIN linkage to track criminals, particularly bandits and kidnappers, who frequently use mobile telephone lines during ransom negotiations with victims’ families.
As of now, there are approximately 224.7 million active mobile telephone lines in the country, as reported by the NCC on its website.
