The Federal Government on Tuesday revealed that the ongoing NIN-SIM linkage exercise has reported significant progress as a total of 47.8 million NINs have been so far collected by the mobile operators.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, in a statement issued in Abuja by the Director Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission, Ikechukwu Adinde expressed satisfaction with the achievement.
Pantami noted that the figure means many millions of Nigerians will be linked up before the deadline in February 2021.
It will be recalled that the federal government had in December directed all telecommunication operators in the country to disconnect every SIM card not registered with the National Identity Number (NIN) by December 30th before it later extended and gave three weeks extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020 to January 19, 2021.
The federal government further gave six weeks extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020 to February 9, 2021.
The minister expressed Government’s appreciation for the commitment demonstrated by all stakeholders and citizens and urged all to submit their NINs before 9th February, 2021 deadline.
The Minister concluded by reminding Nigerians to secure and protect their NINs, urging subscribers to desist from selling their NINs or allowing others to use their NINs for registration.
“For any action committed with the SIM, good or bad, it will be officially traced and attached to the NIN owner,” the Minister warned.
