Nigerians will soon link NIN to their bank accounts, FG declares; mandatory deadline coming
- The NIN will soon be linked with bank accounts in Nigeria
- FG says that the timeline for the mandatory linkage of the NIN with accounts will be soon announced
- This means NIN will replace the BVN, with the communication and digital economy minister Isa Pantami maintaining that the former is backed by the law
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The federal government on Wednesday, February 10, said it will soon announce the deadline for the integration of the National identity Numbers (NIN) with bank accounts.
Isa Pantami, minister of communication and digital economy, made this disclosure in Abuja after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
According to the minister, a timeline for the mandatory linkage of the NIN with bank accounts would soon be released by the communication ministry, The Nation reports.
Source: Twitter
Pantami further added that NIN will replace Bank Verification Number (BVN), saying the former is recognised by the law of the country while the latter is not.
Background
The federal government had in December 2020 announced that SIM cards not linked with NIN will be disconnected as it mandated the telecoms operators to take charge.
Although the directive was deemed a step forward in tackling crimes, it was accepted with massive criticism from Nigerians who later expressed difficulty in enrolling for NIN and getting it linked with their SIMs.
Amid ceaseless outrage, the federal government finally gave a new deadline for the NIN-SIM integration which is April 6, 2021.
However, the government has been urged by Nigerians to extend the process to allow the exercise to run for six months and even remove the timeline in its entirety since Nigerians are buying SIM daily and registering for NIN.
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Meanwhile, the federal government announced that the telecommunications companies have been licensed to register NIN for people who are yet to have the number.
This came barely two weeks to the deadline directive for the network subscribers to link their SIM cards to their NIN.
It was gathered that the order was given so as to reduce the large crowds at the offices of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
Source: Legit.ng
