Telecoms service providers will soon begin providing National Identification Number registration service as arrangements are being finalized, this was disclosed by the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).
The chairman of ALTON and member of the National Task Force on National Identification Number and SIM Registration, Gbenga Adebayo, stated that more enrolment outlets will enable Nigerians to comply with the Federal Government’s directive on SIM-NIN pairing.
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Last week, the Federal Government had directed the Nigerian Communication Commission to enforce the new policy, of which failure by telecom service subscribers to comply would lead to the deactivation of phone lines of defaulters.
In a bid to avoid their phone lines getting barred, Nigerians thronged various NIMC offices to obtain their NIN. However, this breached COVID-19 guidelines issued by the federal government as large gatherings are prohibited. This led to the shutting down of NIMC offices in most parts of the country on Monday.
Subsequently, the federal government extended the deadline to January 19, 2021, for subscribers with NIN and February 9 for those without NIN.
The ALTON chairman attributed the large crowds at the NIMC offices nationwide to the last-minute attitude of most Nigerians.
He said, “Before now, it has been apathy on the part of citizens to visit the enrolment centre of NIMC. I must say that until the time when NIN became a condition for Bank Verification Number, the number of uptake on NIN enrolment was quite low. And it all boils down to our attitude of low response or poor response as a people in general.
“NIMC has been on it for eight years but people have failed to visit those centres to enroll. Until there is a significant mandate that people need to do it before certain things happen, you don’t see people visiting those centres.”
