MONDAY, 25th October, 2021: Ahead of the October 31 deadline for the National Identity Number-Subscriber Identity Module data verification, telecommunication subscribers across the nation have begun to clamour for a two-month extension.
The President of National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, highlighted the need to further extend the deadline of the SIM-NIN exercise to allow for the full implementation of the security policy.
He said, “We have been at it for close to one year now. They started by giving a six-week deadline, and on and on till March, then June, and now October 31.
“In view of the current security situation, which necessitated the policy, we want the deadline to be extended to the end of the year, so that from January 1, there won’t be any excuse. But I also would want a situation where subscribers should take advantage of the remaining days left in this window.”
He further stated that registration centres for NIN were now jam-packed due to the closeness of the deadline.
He said, "Unfortunately, the centres are now jam-packed. I was at one on Friday. Another two months won’t be bad. We are pleading for a two-month extension – November and December – so that full implementation of the security policy can start in January."
Speaking on the number of registrations, he said about 60 million unique subscribers had linked their SIMs to their NIN.
Ogunbanjo said, “According to Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, they said they had done close to 60-something million. And there are over 110 to 118 million unique subscribers. There is a need for an extension to cover everyone. Whoever doesn’t register afterwards by end of December would have themselves to blame.”