The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has instructed telecommunications operators in Nigeria to block subscribers’ SIM cards that were registered without National ID number after 14 days.
Nigerian telecom operators which include MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9Mobile and others are under the new NCC directive required to disable any of their subscriber’s line that was registered without the NIN number.
The new directive was confirmed in a social media statement made by the Personal Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on New Media, Bashir Ahmad.
Bashir Ahmad wrote on the Twitter platform on Tuesday, December 15, 2020:
“The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given telecommunications operators (MTN, Glo, Airtel, 9Mobile and others) in the country two weeks to block all SIM cards that are not registered with the National Identity Numbers (NIN), the Commission has said in a statement.”
A statement from the NCC explained that the reason for the directive is to consolidate the achievements of last year’s audit of the Subscriber Registration Database and also further improve the sanity of the sector.
The NCC has warned that any telecom operator that fails to comply with the directive risks the withdrawal of their operating license.
