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The federal government, yesterday, warned that Nigerians making any transaction including owning a mobile phone number without the National Identification Number (NIN) could earn the wraith of the law and risk imprisonment of between seven and 14 years. They will also be denied access to social services.
Those eager to acquire new subscriber identification module (SIM) cards will still have to wait as the ban on new SIM registration stays.
Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami expressed the government’s position thus: “Clause 27 of the NIMC Act states that you need the NIN number for opening bank account, for insurance, land transactions, voters’ registration, drivers’ licence. So, it is an offence to transact any business activity without first having your NIN.
Pantami who was speaking at the ministerial briefing in Abuja on the NIN/SIM linking directive, further stressed:
“Based on the requirement by law, each and every citizen and legal resident must obtain his/her National Identification Number, which is being coordinated by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). It’s a requirement by law, but many citizens ignore it.”
“National Identity is a law and it’s mandatory. For you to conduct certain activities without the number is an offence. For you to enjoy any government service without having a National Identity Number is an offence.”
Owning a SIM in the country is not mandatory, the minister argued but insisted that NIN is mandatory for SIM users.
“NIN is mandatory, SIM is not mandatory, it is optional. If I say I will not use SIM in Nigeria, nobody will take me to court. It is optional, but this number is mandatory.
According to the minister, there are about 150 million SIM card subscribers while 51 million had completed their NIN registrations as at March 31, 2021. About 99 million SIM card subscribers were improperly registered.
NIMC describes the “NIN as the unique number which identifies you for life and is issued to you by NIMC after your enrolment. It is used to match you with your biometric data and other details in the National Identity Database during verification and authentication.”
NIN required for usable country-wide database
The minister reiterated the commitment of President Muhammadu Buhari to have usable country-wide database for more efficient national planning.
His words: “No country will be successful in education, health, budget planning or national planning without data base of its citizens in place.
“What we achieved in the area of enrolment from the time Mr. President has directed me to supervise NIMC till date is unprecedented and we would continue to ensure that in the next few years we have an almost complete data base of all our citizens in the country.
“What I inherited in the database was less than 20 per cent of our population. But we want to ensure that before we leave office we would look at the database and be proud of our country.”
Ban on new SIMs stays
Government will not lift the ban on registration of new SIMs for security reasons and until the right processes are in place to duly identify SIM users, the minister said.
“The ban on new SIMs remains in place for security reasons. We know this ban is painful but very necessary. In the past, SIMs registration process were compromised, most of the SIMs were improperly registered hence we have most of the SIMs used to commit crimes in the country. So what we are doing now is matching all the SIMs with NIN this has become necessary for security purposes.
“The ban may affect our economy, but when addressing the issue of security, the economy takes back stage. People used the biometrics of one person to register about 100 SIMs.
