It seems there is no end in sight for the registration and linking up of SIM cards in Nigeria with their respective National Identification Numbers (NIN) as the Federal Government has once again extended the deadline for the exercise to Monday, July 26, 2021. This is a four-week extension period from the previous deadline which was set for Wednesday, June 30, 2021.
This was confirmed by a joint statement from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC) which was put forward by the NCC Director for Public Affairs, Ikechukwu Adinde; and the NIMC head of Corporate Communications, Kayode Adegoke.
The statement titled ‘FG approves July 26 as NIN-SIM verification deadline as enrolment systems increase to 5,410’ reveals that the decision to extend the deadline was made because there were calls from major stakeholders for more time to be given for more people to get the opportunity of processing their NIN-SIM data verification.
Furthermore, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, through the joint statement thanked citizens in the country for being patient with the process as well as being compliant with the directives of the federal government as regards the data capturing and linking exercise.
Read Also: Again FG Extends NIN Deadline As Enrollment Reaches 54 Million
The statement read in part:
“The Federal Government has approved the extension of the deadline for NIN-SIM data verification to the 26th of July, 2021.
“The decision to extend the deadline was made after a request by stakeholders on the need to consolidate the enrolment and NIN-SIM verification process following the rapid increase in the number of enrolment systems across the country.
“As of June 28, 2021, a total of 5,410 enrolment systems are now available across the country and this would significantly ease the NIN enrolment process and subsequent linkage of NIN to SIM. It is worthy of note that there were only about 800 such enrolment systems as of December 2020.
“The Federal Government has approved the extension as part of its efforts to make it easier for its citizens and residents to obtain the NIN and it is important to take advantage of the extension.
“There are now a total of 57.3 million unique NIN enrolments, with an average of 3 to 4 SIMs per NIN. With the great number of enrolment centers across the country, every citizen and legal resident should be able to obtain their NINs.”
This would be the fifth time the Federal Government is extending the deadline on the blocking of SIMcards which has not been linked with a NIN since it first announced the process in December 16, 2020. Since then, it has been further extended as each deadline draws near.
Click here for how to link your SIM with your NIN in case you have not done so and don’t know how to go about it.
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