Nigerian govt extends NIN-SIM verification till end of year

The Federal Government has extended the deadline for National Identification Number (NIN) and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) data verification till the end of the year.

The exercise was slated to end on October 31.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, and the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC) Head of Corporate Communications, Kayode Adegoke, disclosed this in a joint statement on Saturday.

The extension, according to the statement, followed appeals by the Mobile Network Operators and other industry stakeholders for the extension of the exercise.

It added that 66 million unique NIN enrolments have been captured since the exercise began with an average of three to four SIMs linked to the NIN.

The statement read: “The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, has conveyed the approval of the Federal Government to extend the deadline for the National Identity Number-Subscriber Identity Module data verification. Citizens and legal residents are urged to complete the process before the end of the year 2021.

READ ALSO: No going back on Oct 31 deadline for NIN-SIM integration —NCC

“The decision to extend the deadline was made further to appeals by the Mobile Network Operators and other industry stakeholders, soliciting for a further extension to ensure better compliance with government’s directive and to avoid widening the digital divide.

“The extension would also provide the enabling environment for the registration of Nigerians in remote areas, Diaspora, schools, hospitals, worship centres, as well as foreigners, diplomatic missions, those in other areas that were hitherto unreachable, and increase enrolments in countries with a significant number of Nigerians.

“As of October 30, 2021, there were over 9,500 enrolment systems and over 8,000 NIN enrolment centres within and outside the country- this has significantly eased the NIN enrolment process and subsequent linkage of NIN to SIM.”

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