Telecom operators submit 43million NINs to NIMC for verification as deadline ends.

Telecom operators have submitted about 43 million National Identity Number (NIN) to the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) for verification, in order to have them registered with their respective Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs).

This is as the Telecommunication companies said that they won’t block SIMs with unlinked submitted NINs as the deadline for the integration of NIN with SIM ends today, January 19, 2021.

This disclosure was made by the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, who spoke on behalf of the telecom firms.

According to a report from Punch, the NIMC provided about 45 million NINs, as it registered about 2 million people in the last 1 month after the Federal Government ordered citizens to register their SIMs with valid NINs.

Adebayo said that the NINs has been sent to NIMC for verification in order to ensure that the numbers were harmonized with their respective SIMs.

Adebayo pointed out that the responsibility is now that of the commission to educate the public on the number of NINs that had been verified and cleared for harmonisation with SIMs.

On whether the government would block the SIMs of subscribers who don’t yet have their SIMs registered despite submitting their NINs to their service providers, the ALTON chairman said such SIMs would not be blocked.

Adebayo said the penalty would be mainly for those who do not have the NIN and who were unable to deliver their NINs to their service providers.