The Federal Government had urged all Nigerians to link their phone numbers to their National Identity Number (NIN) in 2020. Despite the appeal, so many Nigerians are yet to do just that. The Federal Government has thus ordered TELCOS to bar all out-going calls from unlinked numbers.

Nigerians face NIN-SIM blockage.

Nigerians have come out in their thousands to express their disappointment at the federal government’s order to block sims not yet connected to NIN. President Muhammadu Buhari, had ordered telecommunication companies to bar calls from numbers that are yet to be linked to their National Identity Number. The order has thus kicked off on the 4th April 2022.

This was announced in a statement presented by the spokesperson of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ikechukwu Adinde, and also the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Kayode Adegoke, it states. President Muhammadu Buhari approved the implementation of the Policy with effect from April 4, 2022.

“Outgoing calls will subsequently be barred for telephone lines that have not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage policy from the 4th of April, 2022. Subscribers of such lines are hereby advised to link their SIMs to their NINs before the Telecommunication companies can lift the restriction on their lines,” Adinde concluded.

For more than a year now, so many Nigerians are yet to link their phone numbers to their National Identity Number, this has eventually led to the disconnection of phone lines by the telecommunications companies.

The compulsory linkage of phone numbers to their National Identity Number, was implemented to help the federal government fight insecurity which has been a major issue in Nigeria in recent years. It was said that the policy will help the federal government locate bandits and terrorist who have been been carrying out dastardly attacks on innocent Nigerians, particularly in Northern region.

However, the implemented policy by the federal government lacks clarify if the government’s decision to link phone numbers to their National Identity Number (NIN) has indeed helped in the fight against insecurity in the country. This coming as recent onslaughts by bandits have become more daring and keeps increasing unabatedly across the country.

In a recent communique, Isa Pantami, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, has praised Nigerians who had earlier listened and obeyed the federal government’s order to link their phone numbers to their National Identity Number. He applauded Nigerians for partaking in the exercise and praised them for their commitment.

In conclusion, it was reported that over 125 million sims have had their NINs submitted for linkage, verification and authentication as of date, while the NIMC has issued over 78 million unique NINs.