Telecommunications companies in the country at the weekend disclosed that over 40 million subscribers who did not present their National Identity Numbers (NIN) in line with Nigeria’s Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) and NIN linkage policy had been disconnected from service providers’ networks.
The chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, who made this disclosure in a statement on Sunday, hinted that the second tier of disconnections that would soon take place will affect subscribers who have provided NIN but have more than five Mobile Subscription Identification Numbers (MSIMs) associated with their NIN, and these have not been verified.
The ALTON chief clarified: “I can tell you that over 40 million lines have been blocked, and the affected customers are those who didn’t submit their NINs at all. Some persons have not presented any NIN to operators.
“They haven’t registered their SIMs or participated in the harmonisation programme. They simply haven’t made any presentation of the NIN number to their operators, and those were the persons blocked. So why is the number so alarming despite repeated warnings? It shows many people still communicate but are not registered.
“The second tier of disconnections that will happen are those who have provided NIN but have more than five Mobile Subscription Identification Numbers associated with their NIN, and these have not been verified.
“This is because some have differences in the order of their names, and some have differences in their date of birth. The information provided to the operator when they did the SIM registration is different from what they provided (to NIMC) when they did their NIN. Some subscribers also have differences in other records that are critical to their verification process.
“So these people who have more than five MSINs attached to their NIN and haven’t been verified will be disconnected effective March 30, 2024.
“So, we may have more disconnections happening by the end of this month. If somebody has given a name that has not been verified and has been receiving text messages to verify and they haven’t done that, by March 30, those people will be disconnected, and the figures will further increase”, Adebayo added.
Despite the regulatory authorities’ current moves to align all citizens’ data in national database such as the NIMC’s, industry analysts are expressing concerns about the current measures compelling bank customers to also link their NINs with their BVNs in view of the likely risks of exposing the customers’ critical information to fraudsters.
