Over 120 Million SIM Cards To Be Disconnected As NIN Linkage Deadline Expires Today

Millions of SIM cards risk disconnection as the deadline for linkage with the National Identification Number ends on Thursday.

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy introduced the NIN-SIM linkage back in December 2020 with an initial deadline of December 30, 2020.

The government extended the deadline by three weeks to January 19, for subscribers that already have NIN.

For those that did not have NIN, the government shifted it by six weeks to February 9 and subsequently April 9, 2021, June 30, 2021, July 26, 30th December 2021 and March 30, 2022.

The March extension was to help the government consolidate on the gains of the process and accelerate the enrolment of Nigerians in remote areas, schools and diaspora.

As of December last year, the National Identity Database has received over 71 million unique NINs.

According to the latest statistics report of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Nigeria has over 198.1 million active SIMs as of February 2022.

The Nigerian Communications Commission had on March 29, 2022 reminded Nigerians of the date stressing the importance of the exercise.

In the case where there is no extension of the deadline, about 127 million active SIMs may be disconnected based on the directive of the government.