No deadline day extension for phone lines not linked with NIN – NCC insists

The commission insists that people with multiple SIMs do not purchase them for legitimate purposes.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stressed again that the March 29th deadline date for SIM-NIN linkage remains unchanged.

This is in contrary to reports in circulation that the commission has extended the deadline by one week for subscribers who have more than four SIMs, and are yet to link their National Identification Number (NIN) with them.

According to these reports, it was said that the commission had extended the deadline because of the Easter celebrations/holiday, adding that telecommunication companies have been instructed not to bar any line as stipulated earlier.

However, according to the Pulse news, the commission has dismissed such reports, insisting that there is no going back on the deadline.

The commision reiterated its commitment to ensuring that criminals do not “take advantage of having multiple unlinked SIMs to carry out their nefarious activities.”

“We are not standing back on our decision. March 29th is sacrosanct. Our resolve is hinged on the need to close in on the chaos of untoward ownership of multiple SIM cards with unverified NIN details.

“We have instances where a single individual has over 10,000 lines linked to his NIN. In some cases, we have seen a single person with 1,000 lines, some 3,000 plus lines. What are they doing with these lines?” the commission queried.

The NCC disclosed that research has shown that many users of five or more SIMs did not purchase them for legitimate purposes.

“We have given them enough time to make the decision of which of their lines they want to keep, and discard the others. They did not. All lines in this category with unverified NINs will be barred. They will be then expected to go to their operators and decide which of the lines they want to keep, as well as submit correct NIN details.

“Some people would say they want to use it for car trackers, or IoTs, but provision has been made for these services already. They are not under the Max-4 Rule.”

The Max-4 rule was annouced by the Federal Government in April 2021, stating that telecom subscribers cannot have more than four lines per mobile network operator.