NIN: FG finally lifts ban on SIM registration, announces new date
- The federal government has approved the activation of new SIM registration
- A statement issued by the ministry of communication and digital economy on Thursday, April 15, revealed that NIN is mandatory for the exercise
- The embargo was placed on SIM registration in December 2020
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The federal government has approved the activation of new SIM registration with a mandatory National Identity Number (NIN).
Nigerian Tribune reports that the approval is in line with the revised National Digital Identity Policy for SIM card registration.
Source: Twitter
Legit.ng gathered that the ministry of communications and digital economy said this in a statement signed by Femi Ademiluyi, a technical aide to minister Isa Pantami.
Channels TV also reports that the government had suspended the activity in December 2020 as it embarked on an audit of the subscriber registration database.
The ministry said at the time that the audit exercise was important in order to verify and ensure compliance by Mobile Network Operators with set quality standards and requirements of SIM card registration.
According to the report, the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, section 23(a), specifies the role of the minister to include the formulation, determination and monitoring of the general policy for the communications sector.
Adeluyi stated that the minister coordinated and led the development of a Revised National Digital Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration in collaboration with all other stakeholders.
He said prior to that, the key aspects of the draft Policy were presented to the stakeholders at the 4th review Meeting of the Ministerial Task Force (MTF) on the NIN-SIM registration which held on Friday, February 26, 2021.
The policy includes guidelines on new SIM acquisition and activation, SIM replacement, new SIM activation for corporates and Internet-of-Things/Machine-to-Machine (IoT/M2M), among others.
The ministry also noted that the possession of a National Identity number would be a prerequisite for each of these categories.
It further stated that institutions would be required to appoint a Telecoms Master (at the minimum of an Executive Management level) to provide the operational Primary NIN representation.
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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Pantami warned there would be consequences for Nigerians who fail to verify their SIMs by linking them to the NIN.
It was reported that Pantami gave the warning on Monday, April 12, via his official Twitter handle while reacting to a retraction on a trending report published about him by a media outlet.
The minister emphasised that there was no going back on the policy and warned those who are yet to comply to do so before the government's next action.
Source: Legit.ng
