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Over 51 million people have been assigned National Identification Numbers (NINs), based on an update on the NIN-registration process released in Abuja, this week, following a meeting of the Ministerial Task Force on the NIN-SIM data linkage.
Also, deadline for the NIN-SIM linkage is now 6th of May, 2021 after the request for the extension was approved by President Muhammadu Buhari to allow more people participate in the mandatory exercise.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami chaired the meeting attended by key stakeholders including the Executive Vice Chairman/CEO: Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta; DG/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Aliyu Aziz Abubakar; DG/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA),Inuwa Kashifu Abdullahi; and Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC),Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Others are representative of the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo; the NCC Executive Commissioners Technical Services and Stakeholder Management, MD/CEOs of MTN, Airtel, EMTS (9Mobile), NTEL, Spectranet and SMILE, as well as the COO of Glo.
Monthly enrolments now 2.6m
According to a statement by Director, Public Affairs, NCC, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, “the update also showed that there are many people who have enrolled and are in the process of being assigned NINs. With each individual having an average of 3 to 4 SIMs, the total number of SIMs tied to NINs would be close to the total number of registered SIMs in the country.
“The current number of monthly enrolments has increased significantly to about 2.6 million registrations. There has also been a remarkable increase in the number of enrolment centres across the country with about 3,800 centres available for enrolments. There are also many more new centres in the pipeline.“
Chairman of the EFCC addressed the meeting and stated that the NIN-SIM linkage would support the federal government in checkmating the activities of fraudsters and cybercriminals.
Dr. Pantami noted the importance of obtaining feedback from all stakeholders in order to ensure that the NIN-SIM linkage process is one that cannot easily be compromised.
The minister reiterated government’s commitment to continually taking decisions aimed at easing the pains of the citizens with regard to issues related to NIN and SIM registration.
