The Nigerian government through the National Task Force on National Identification Number (NIN) and Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) Registration has extended the deadline for the integration of NIN and SIM card.
The extension was announced today at a meeting, which was chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami) with major stakeholders in the sector including Chairman-Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC; Director-General (DG), National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA); DG, National Identity Management Commission (NIMC); Executive Commissioner, Technical Services (ECTS), NCC; Executive Commissioner, Stakeholder Management (ECSM), NCC; Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON); Chief Executive Officers of MTN, Airtel, Ntel, Glo, Smile, and 9Moble in attendance.
In a statement jointly signed by Prof. Umar Danbatta of NCC and Engr. Aliyu Aziz of NIMC, the deadline was extended from 30th December, 2020 to 19th January, 2021 for subscribers with NIN, while Six (6) weeks extension for subscribers without NIN was given from 30th December, 2020 to 9th February, 2021.
It added that NIMC has provided strategies to enable citizens to attend the registration in full compliance with Covid-19 protocols – particularly the use of facemasks which remains mandatory and maintenance of social distancing.
Meanwhile, Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) and verification charges remain suspended during these extensions.