Nigerian telecommunications regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has issued a deadline for all mobile telephone users in the country to register their Subscriber Identification Module, SIM, by linking it to their National Identity Number, NIN, with their telecommunications operators.
The deadline is September 14, 2024. After this day, the telecommunications operators have been instructed by NCC to bar users of defaulting SIM cards from their network.
Nigeria has a National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, which registers everyone in the country.
Its database contains full names, picture, thumb print, residential address and allied information on each person. Such information can help security agencies track perpetrators of fraud on the internet when all SIM cards are linked to NIN.
All telecommunications operators in the country like MTN, Glo, Etisalat, Airtel etc are required to verify each of their SIM card users with his NIN in person and register him. The registration is confidential and is only re-opened for security reasons.
Nigeria has seen an increase in internet and online banking fraud in recent years and the directive by NCC is widely welcome.
