NIN: Court Stops FG from blocking SIM cards of Nigerians
- Nigerians can now relax as a court has ordered the FG not to block sim cards over NIN
- The court asked the government to extend the deadline for at least 2 months
- Monday Ubani had approached the court, asking that the NCC be stopped from disconnecting all SIM cards not linked to NIN
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Nigerians can now heave a sigh of relief over the deadline given by the federal government on sim card linkage to National Identity Numbers.
This follows an order by a Federal High Court in Lagos state which barred the government from blocking unlinked SIM cards.
Punch reports that many Nigerians are agitated because of the deadline and have been besieging offices of the National Identity Management Commission in disregard of COVID-19 protocols.
Source: Original
The suit that resulted in the judgement was instituted by Monday Ubani.
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He asked the court to stop the NCC from disconnecting all SIM Cards not linked to NINs, This Day added.
Ubani argued that the two-week ultimatum is inadequate, adding it will affect him in many ways. He also sought an order of the court to extend the deadline.
Based on this, Justice M.A Onyetenu, ordered that the deadline be extended by two months from the day of the judgement.
Onyetenu ruled that the ultimatum of April 9, 2021, be halted as the timeline is grossly inadequate and will cause severe hardship.
Meanwhile, Nigerians have quickly reacted to the development.
@Dewise69805028a wrote on Twitter:
"Actually, it is good to have an Identification number, but not by threatening to block people's number, is actually a welcome development."
@Helena_ChefLena added:
"This is good news! An intelligent government would know that to register over 150million sim cards "manually" is an exercise that would take months, if not years! But here they are, very backward minds,in a hurry to block a sim card you didn't give to anyone."
@obianujum also said:
"NIN registration should be a continuous thing, just like the International Passport. This's because people turn 18 yrs of age by the day, hence qualify to be registered. Deadline on it should be scrapped.
"Same with the Voter's Card deadline! @inecnigeria @NigeriaGov take note."
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the FG announced the implementation of some new policies that would allow Nigerians to have easy access to the NIN enrolment process.
Part of the new measures includes the extension of the tenure of NIN enrolment agents of Mobile Network Operators (MNO) from one to five years.
The announcement was made in a joint statement by NCC and NIMC on Wednesday, March 3.
Source: Legit.ng
