The National Association of Telecoms Subscribers (NATS), has disclosed its plan to drag the Federal Government (FG) to court for barring outgoing calls in a bid to effect a sanction relating to the NIN-SIM linkage policy.
It would be recalled that on Monday, April 4, 2022, FG ordered telecom companies to bar outgoing calls on all lines that have yet to link their NIN-SIM.
The directive led to the barring of 72.77 million active telecom subscribers from making outgoing calls on their SIMs.
However, while urging FG to extend the implementation of the NIN-SIM policy by three months, the association warned that should the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government fail to temporarily lift the ban, it would have no choice but to sue.
According to the President of the association, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, who made this disclosure, NATS will be joined in a suit already filed by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) against FG on the NIN-SIM policy implementation.
His words; “We have said that if the Federal Government does not lift the ban, we would go to court. But SERAP said it had filed a document in the court. So, we are giving the government until the end of the month.
“NATCOM is saying that by end of the month, we will go to court. We are going to court to ensure the government unbans the lines and extends the deadline. SERAP has made the first move already, we would be joined in the suit.
“After the expiration of our deadline for the government to reconsider its decision, we would formally go to court, along with SERAP. By the first week in May, we are joining SERAP in the court.”
While noting that the directive was unfair, the NATS president lamented how subscribers who had linked their NIN with their SIMs prior to the directive were also blocked.
