A source says affected subscribers would still be able to receive calls, send and receive text messages, and use the Internet, in the meantime.
Following the Federal Government directive on NIN-SIM, over 72 million subscribers, whose SIMs have not been linked to their National Identity Numbers have been deactivated.
The Federal Government had ordered telecommunications companies to immediately bar all outgoing calls on all unlinked lines following the expiration of the verification exercise on March 31.
In a statement announcing the order, the FG had said the enforcement of the directive would begin from Monday, April 4, 2022, adding that the deactivation of unlinked lines was necessary to address the growing insecurity in the country.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission, there were 197.77 million active telecom subscribers as of February 2022.
The commission said 125 million subscribers have submitted their NINs for verification, leaving 72.77 million subscribers on the receiving end of the Federal Government’s new directive.
A source in one of the telecommunication companies who spoke to Punch on the development said telcos had begun to comply with the directive.
The source said the affected subscribers would still be able to receive calls, send and receive text messages, and use the Internet, in the meantime.
“Part of the Act that set up the NCC, by extension operators, mandates us to disconnect SIMs whenever the government tells us to do so. We are under an obligation to oblige the government when they ask us to disconnect SIMs. It is part of the Act setting us up.
“Yes, we have started complying. When the news broke today, they were yet to officially notify us, but now, the NCC has officially written us, and we have received their directive on it. We have started the implementation.
“There are two buckets to this directive, there are people who have linked their NINs to their SIMs. Do not forget that part of the reason why they kept on extending their deadline was because of the NIMC’s failure.
“NIMC has not been able to do the required integration from the backend. The telcos have done their part, but the challenge is that the NIMC does not have the means to have that firm handshake from the backend. And once the handshake is not done, it is as good as not doing any linkage. People fall into the second bucket.
“The question now is when you direct us to disconnect, who are you referring to? This is so because if we add the second pool, we will virtually disconnect everyone. For now, we are dealing with people who have not linked their SIMs to their NINs at all,” the source said.
Meanwhile, the President of the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, is reported to have described the move by the Federal Government as premature.
He said the verification exercise needs time before the policy can be implemented, Punch reports.
He said, “We just woke up to the news that ongoing calls will be blocked. The minister should understand that this is too premature, premature in the sense that we started this in December 2020.
He added that the verification ought to be an ongoing exercise, adding that if the minister wants to put a timeline, he should meet with the operators to know how many people have been linked.
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