NCC explains reasons for barring some previously linked SIM cards, says it’ll do an audit before the end of the week on number of barred lines
March 4, 2024
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on Monday explained why some previously linked SIM cards have been barred.
NCC spokesperson, Reuben Muoka, who was a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief programme on Monday said, “people who probably didn’t get a cleared or verified NIN” have been barred.
According to him, some SIM cards have verification and identification issues like disparity in information, surnames names and other data information.
“There are still some subscribers whose NINs are yet to be verified by NIMC and those have to also be corrected,” he said.
Muoka noted that some lines were barred because the information on the NIN did not tally with what the customers register with their SIM cards, saying subscribers will have to visit the outlets of their service providers to validate their NINs and resolve other matters.
“For now, it requires those physical visits to the stations to get it verified and validated but in the future, we hope that this will be done virtually,” the NCC spokesman said.
Millions of lines were barred last week at the expiration of the deadline but the regulator’s spokesman said the NCC has been going through one deadline after the other since 2022 “to give extension for convenience but it is time to get to a closure”.
“Take it that everybody who has not submitted his NIN to the service providers have been barred. Actually, the service providers starting barring people many days to the deadline,” he said.
On the number of barred lines, Muoka, however, said it will be difficult to tell the actually number, but that the NCC will do an audit before the end of the week as data are expected from service providers.