Nigerians who do not have proper linkage of their National Identification Number, NIN to their Subscriber Identity Module, SIM numbers are set to experience another round of disconnection by service providers.
Slated for Friday, 29th March 2024, it aligns with the directive of Nigerian Communications Commission, (NCC) that all registered SIMs that are not properly linked with the NIN should be barred until corrected or disconnected from the network in its entirety.
The NCC disconnection directive is in phases. The first phase occured February 28, 2024, and the second phase is due March 29, 2024.
In the first phase, about 40 million lines were barred. It consists of 17 million SIMs, which were active for three months, but failed to submit NINs.
The other 23 million SIMs, were those that were not active in the last one year and without NINs.
Those who will be affected by this second phase of barring/disconnection are subscribers who have five SIMs and above from one operator, who are also found to have unverified NIN – SIM linkages.
