Nigeria: SIM card identification extended until April

(Ecofin Agency) - Nigerians finally have the entire first quarter of 2021 to put their various SIM cards in order. The previous deadline of February 9, 2021 promised to be untenable for the government, which wants to obtain reliable data.

The Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Ali Isa Pantami (pictured), once again extended the SIM card identification period started on December 14, 2020. After the deadline of December 30, 2020, then that of January 19, 2021 and that of February 9, 2021, consumers now have until April 6, 2021 to comply. The decision was taken on Monday, February 1, during the meeting attended by telecom operators, the telecom regulator and the National Identity Management Commission.

According to the minister, the extension of the identification period "aims to give Nigerians and legal residents more time for their NIN (National Identification Number, Editor's note) with the SIM".

The government has decided to extend the deadline for identifying telecom subscribers in view of the large number of Nigerians who have not yet acquired the national identification number required to keep their line active. Six days before the previous deadline, the government's objective of identifying all consumers of telecom services in the country became untenable.

On January 20, 2021, the Nigerian government estimated that nearly 21 million SIM cards remained unidentified out of the 207 million recorded in the country. “It has been reported that a total of 56.18 million NINs have been collected by mobile network operators. Each NIN is typically tied to an average of 3-4 SIMs […] the current total figure represents a significant increase from the 47.8 million reported by the Technical Committee on January 18, 2021,” the Communications Commission of Nigeria states ( NCC).

Last December, the government justified the campaign to identify telecom subscribers as a necessity to obtain reliable data essential to national security and the development of the national telecom sector. The new extension of its duration is done for the sake of efficiency.

Muriel Edjo

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