Calls to be barred for telephone lines not complying with SIM registration policy in Nigeria

Nigeria residents who have not yet linked their SIM to a National Identity Number (NIN) are no longer able to make calls. It is a result of the implementation of the policy that took effect on April, 4. The government hopes to fight more efficiently criminal groups using unregistered SIM cards.

If over 125 Million SIMs have had their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication, millions of Nigerian SIM holders have yet to comply with the law. Citing “impacts on government’s strategic planning, particularly in the areas of security and socio-economic projections“, Nigerian minister of Communications announced on Monday all callers that have not complied with the NIN-SIM will be barred from receiving outgoing calls.

The National Identification Number (NIN) consists of 11 numbers randomly chosen and assigned to an individual at the completion of enrolment into the National identity database. The government asked residents to couple their NIN to their subscriber Identification Module (SIM) for security purposes. For years now, Nigeria has been urging telecom companies to check the identity of their subscribers amid fears that unregistered SIM cards were being used by criminal gangs and insurgents.