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FG approves establishment of SIM swap centres by MNOs, extension of enrolment license tenure
The Federal Government has approved the establishment of dedicated SIM Swap Centres across the Local Government Areas (LGAs) as well as extension of tenure for National Identity Number (NIN) registration by mobile network operators (MNOs).
This was made known in a press release jointly issued by the Director, Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, and the Head, Corporate Communications, Nigeria Identify Management Commission, Mr. Kayode Adegoke on Wednesday, March 3, where they revealed the communiqué on a meeting chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami.
According to the communiqué, approval was given for the extension of the tenure of NIN Enrolment Agent Licenses for MNOs from 1 to 5 years in consideration of their satisfactory performance, subject to continuous monitoring, saying this is a deliberate effort of the Federal Government to simplify the enrolment process for Nigerians and legal residents.
“The Technical Committee was mandated to complete the development of a new SIM issuance strategy that cannot be compromised. This will ensure that there is no repeat of the past process that was compromised through pre-registration by some agents.
“A Multi-Sectoral Adhoc Committee was tasked to immediately complete the review of the processes for new SIM activations for legal residents staying in Nigeria for less than 24 months. The membership of the Committee was drawn from NCC, NIMC, Nigeria Immigration Service and the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON)”.
“The Ministerial Task Force on the NIN-SIM registration held its 4th Review Meeting on Friday, February 26, 2021. The meeting was chaired by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM.
“Key stakeholders who joined the Honourable Minister included the EVC/CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), DG/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), DG/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON). Others included the NCC Executive Commissioners for Technical Services and Stakeholder Management, MD/CEOs of MTN, Airtel, EMTS (9Mobile), NTEL, Spectranet and SMILE, as well as the COO of Glo.
“Furthermore, MNOs that already have Service Centres in important and critical locations in LGAs, are expected to upgrade these Centres to a level where they can qualify as SIM Swap Centres in order to reduce the challenges associated with the SIM Swap/Replacement process for the citizens. The purpose is to bring SIM Swap Centres closer to Nigerians regardless of their location”.
The Minister also tasked the NCC, working with the NIMCand MNOs, to come up with a framework for the establishment of SIM Swap/Replacement Centres in each of the 774 LGAs in the country, beginning with critical and feasible locations.
The EVC of NCC, Prof Danbatta, briefed the meeting on the outcome of the Senate Investigative Hearing on 5G Deployment in Nigeria, which took place on February 25, 2021. He extolled the Minister for making an eloquent presentation to dispel fears about the public health and security implications of 5G, as well as making a case for this new technology in the country. All stakeholders agreed on the need for the country to deploy 5G technology.
“President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR was briefed on the activities of the Ministerial Task Force. He strongly commended the achievement recorded so far and urged the Minister and other stakeholders to maintain the tempo.
“The Honourable Minister also appreciated Nigerians for their patience and compliance with the Federal Government’s directive on the NIN-SIM registration exercise, which has many benefits to the country and its citizens. He assured of government’s commitment to continually take decisions aimed at easing the pains of the citizens with regard to issues related to NIN and SIM registration”.
March 3, 2021
Real Reasons For Replacing BVN, Others With NIN – FG
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, recently disclosed that the federal government has begun the process of replacing the Bank Verification Number (BVN) and other national database systems with the National Identity Number (NIN).
the real reasons behind this move.
Aside from BVN, there are other key data systems in Nigeria.
Some of these are the Drivers Licence, issued by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), the Tax Identification Number (TIN) and the International Passport Number.
Others include professional licences like medical practice licence, pharmacology, nursing licence, teachers’ registration licence and engineering licence, among others.
According to the minister, his office was leading the initiative.
And the key reason for the migration of all databases to NIN is the fact that NIN is backed by law.

He said there is the need to replace BVN with NIN because the BVN is a bank policy but NIN is a law.
Because it has been established by law, the strength of the law everywhere is higher than a policy made by an institution.
The BVN was a policy directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that all customers of commercial banks must be identified through a verifiable number system.
Just like BVN and other data systems, there are limitations: you must be eligible to be captured in one or all these databases, but the NIN is not so, as long as you are a Nigerian or living in Nigeria.
February 11, 2021
There’s an urgent need for NIMC to convince Nigerians that NIN registration is free
By Okechukwu Keshi Ukegbu
The critical Nigerian mass are at the receiving end of every policy by the government which pretends to upgrade their welfare. Whether attempts to upgrade banking services which have manifested through reviewing of bank account digits, among others.
But the problem is why it should be so. The answer may not be far- fetched as we were taught that the basic characteristic of capitalism is that it is” a dog eat dog system”. That is capitalism at its crudest form such as is obtained in our clime.
The rich becomes richer while the poor becomes poorer through every means possible. This justifies J.P Clark’s poem” The Casualties” which captures the negative side of the civil war where some privileged Biafrans capitalised on the negative circumstances of the civil war to rip off their fellow Biafrans. More pathetic is what Clark captures as “emissaries of rift”.
These emissaries were doing diplomatic shuttles seeking for attention of the international community to better the lot of Biafrans back home. Unfortunately, the shuttles provided the emissaries the opportunities to feed on their comfort.
Since the fresh calls to Nigerians to upgrade their National Identification Number or risk losing their mobile lines, there has widespread claims of ripping of Nigerians by people claiming to staff of National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) extorting Nigerians.
This is more annoying that these alleged staff of NIMC or their corroborators have defied the NIMC directives that NIN registration is free. I would blame this action in alleged two legs: It is either that the hierarchy of NIMC are conspirators in this scheme or they lack the will power of restraining these recalcitrant staff.
How would one explain the action of one Iheanacho Desmond ( no one knows if it is his real name), who claimed to be principal staff of NIMC of the Obingwa local government area unit of the commission who in broad daylight on Saturday 6th February, 2021 extorting innocent and unsuspecting citizens of Isiala Ntighauzo Autonomous Community of the LGA the sum of N1,500. The ironical aspect of the whole episode is that the fair and bearded young man has the audacity to tell whoever that cares that his actions are justified and that whoever that is not comfortable with his extortions should go to hell.
Unfortunately also is that Mr. Desmond or whatever he claims to be has conspirators in the persons of some high ranking members of the community who derive pleasure in extorting poor and peasant members of the community, maybe possibly for a cut from the rackeckeering. Nigeria is indeed a vicious cycle.
Indeed, the authorities, especially whoever that is in charge of NIMC in Obingwa should make haste to investigate the actions of Iheanacho Desmond and his local conspirators. If not the mantra that NIN registration is free will remain the police mantra that” bail is free while Nigerians pay through their nose.
Finally, the efforts of Obingwa LGA, through its people-oriented Chairman, Hon. Ibe Nwoke to make sure that good people of the LGA are not short-changed in this process should highly appreciated.
What basically informs this write up is why Nigerians should be extorted for services they should get at their Beck and call? Two, if the average person from Ntighauzo adds up to N3,500 to N1,500, it will acquire a portion of farm land to them this farming season.
The morals here is that fraudulent characters should not sabotage the efforts of our able and amiable Governor, Okezie Victor Ikpeazu (PhD) in bettering the lots of Abians
February 6, 2021
56.2 Million NIN Linked To Sims, Says NCC
Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have collected 56.18 million National Identity Numbers (NIN) since the commencement of the ongoing Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) registration started, says the Federal Government.
The government added that over 1,060 registration centres for NIN have been activated by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) across the country to give Nigerians and legal residents more time to integrate their NIN with their SIMs.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, who announced this in Abuja, explained that the NIN-SIM linkage deadline of February 9 had been extended to April 6.
According to a statement by the Director, Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Dr Ikechukwu Adinde and his NIMC counterpart, Mr. Kayode Adegoke, yesterday, the minister ordered the extension after a meeting of the Ministerial Taskforce on NIN-SIM registration.
Adinde and Adegoke quoted Pantami as saying: “It was reported that a total of 56.18 million NINs have been collected by the mobile network operators. Each NIN is usually tied to an average of three to four SIMs and this infers that the current figure accounts for a significant portion of the existing SIMs.
“This number of NINs collected represents a significant increase when compared with the 47.8 million reported by the Technical Committee on January 18.
“Furthermore, over 1,060 registration centres for NIN have been activated and made operational by NIMC across the country.
“Mobile Network Operators have opened hundreds of centres and are rapidly deploying resources to open thousands of other NIN enrolment centres across states of the country.
February 3, 2021
NIN-SIM: FG extends deadline by eight weeks
The Federal Government has extended the National Identity Number, NIN, registration deadline by 8 weeks
This was contained in a statement signed by Mr. Kayode Adegoke, Head, Corporate, Nigeria Identity Management Commission, NIMC.
“The ongoing National Identification Number (NIN) and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) integration exercise has been extended by 8 weeks, with a new deadline of April 6, 2021,” he said.
According to the statement, this message was conveyed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, during the meeting of the Ministerial Taskforce on NIN-SIM registration, which was held on the 1st of February, 2021.
Dr Pantami stated that the extension is to give Nigerians and legal residents more time to integrate their NIN with their SIM.
The meeting was chaired by the Honourable Minister and attended by key stakeholders, including the EVC/CEO of NCC, DG/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), DG/CEO of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) and the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).
Others include the MD/CEOs of MTN, Airtel, 9Mobile, Ntel, Spectranet and SMILE, as well as the COO of Globacom.
It was reported that a total of 56.18 million NINs have been collected by the mobile network operators.
Each NIN is usually tied to an average of 3 to 4 SIMs and this infers that the current figure accounts for a significant portion of the existing SIMs.
This number of NINs collected represents a significant increase when compared with the 47.8 million reported by the Technical Committee on January 18, 2021.
“Furthermore, over 1060 registration centres for NIN have been activated and made operational by NIMC across the country, while Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have opened hundreds of centres and are rapidly deploying resources to open thousands of other NIN enrolment centres across states of the country.
“This is in line with the policy of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to enhance security and make the process of obtaining NINs easier for Nigerians,” he said.
Dr. Pantami reiterated the need for Nigerians and legal residents who are yet to register for the NIN to be diligent and take advantage of the extension to enroll for their NIN and link with their SIMs.
The Federal Government applauded all Nigerians and persons of other nationalities for their understanding, cooperation “and for enthusiastically participating in the exercise.
“The minister implores applicants to follow the safety guidelines at all the NIN enrolment centers and ensure compliance with the booking system in place.”
February 2, 2021
NIN: FG extends deadline for Registration to February 9
The Federal Government has extended the deadline for Nigerians with the National Identity Number, NIN, to link it up with their SIM cards.
The Federal government in December 2020 gave Nigerians with NIN that are yet to link their Sim cards till January 19 to link them up or risk getting their telephone lines blocked.
Following the expiration of the deadline on Tuesday January 19, the Federal government has now extended the deadline till February 9.
The mobile network operators (MNOs) in a press statement released today Wednesday, January 20, said that the Federal Government has granted a further extension of the deadline to February 9 to allow subscribers yet to sync their SIMs with their NINs to do so.
“We have received formal confirmation from the NCC that President Muhammadu Buhari has graciously approved the extension of the deadline for subscribers with NIN to link it to their SIM registration data from January 19 to February 9, 2021.
To ensure that we utilise the extension period judiciously, we urge all telecom subscribers who have a NIN to link it to their SIM cards through available channels as soon as possible. Those yet to enroll are advised to visit www.nimc.gov.ngfor a list of enrolment centres close to them.” the statement read in part
January 21, 2021
NIN REG: Prepare for consequences, NIMC warns unregistered Nigerians
The National Identity Management Commission says Nigerians who have not registered and obtained their National Identity Numbers should be ready to face the consequences.
NIMC stated this in a tweet on Tuesday.
“By order of the Federal Government, today is given as the last chance to register your NIMC or face the wrath of what comes next,” NIMC tweeted.
On December 15, 2020, the Federal Government declared that after December 30, 2020, all SIMs that were not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked.
It later extended the December 30, 2020 deadline following widespread opposition against the earlier announcement and gave three weeks’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020, to January 19, 2021.
It also gave six weeks’ extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020, to February 9, 2021, but many organisations have called for a further deadline extension or outright suspension of the NIN registration process due to the large crowds who had yet to have their NINs.
Although the NIMC refused to speak on the matter after several calls and messages were sent to senior officials of the commission on the subject, operators in the telecommunications sector told The PUNCH on Monday that about 43 million NINs had been submitted to the agency for verification.
About 43 million National Identity Numbers have been submitted by telecommunication companies to the National Identity Management Commission for verification in order to have them registered with their respective Subscriber Identification Modules.
The Nigeria Immigration Service had in 2019 made NIN a prerequisite for obtaining passports while recently, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board and the National Examinations Council made it compulsory for intending candidates.
This has caused several persons to gather at NIMC enrolment centres in disregard of COVID-19 protocols.
January 19, 2021
HURIWA urge Nigerians to protest, boycott NIN/SIM registration
The Human Rights Writers Association Nigeria, HURIWA, on Monday, urged Nigerians to massively boycott the National Identification Number, NIN, and SIM registration.
HURIWA described the timing of linking NIN to SIM cards as suicidal, hence Nigerians should boycott the exercise if they have not enrolled with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
The rights group said the refusal of Nigerian government to halt the process amid the spike of COVID-19 was insensitive and irresponsible.
HURIWA made the call in a statement signed by its National Coordinator, Emmanuel Onwubiko.
According to HURIWA: “The reason for the people of Nigeria to protest against this policy of government is not that it is a bad policy; but the timing of the implementation of that policy is suicidal.
“That the Nigerian government has remained inconsiderate, irresponsible, insensitive, irresponsible and not being responsive to the agitation of millions of Nigerians that have called on the government to suspend the exercise until such a time that the second wave of COVID-19 is checkmated, is disappointing.
“Therefore, the last card the people of Nigerians have is to massively protest either symbolically through active civil disobedience methodology or boycotts of the exercise or physical demonstrations on the streets. We call on all Nigerians including policemen and women to protest.
“The protest does not mean physical protest alone unless they are pushed to their limits then they can come out wearing their face masks, observing physical distancing but anything other than this, the people can also boycott the exercise.
“Yes, the reason they should protest is because the timing of the exercise is a threat to their lives because the second wave of COVID-19 is on a global rampage and people are dying in their thousands in Nigeria and many who have attended that registration exercise have died from COVID-19. HURIWA has learnt of some fatalities related to that dastardly ill-timed exercise.”
January 19, 2021
BREAKING: NIN Compulsory for Foreign Diplomats – FG
The Federal Government says National Identity Numbers is mandatory for foreign diplomats, saying that an enrolment centre has been established for them at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, said this in a statement by his Technical Assistant, Dr Femi Adeluyi, on Sunday.
The statement read, “The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, has approved the setting up of a National Identity Number (NIN) enrolment centre at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The desk will be set up by Tuesday, 19th of January, 2021.
“This enrolment centre will provide support for members of the Diplomatic Corps and will be managed by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, through the National Identity Management Commission.
“The centre is being set up based on the request of the Honourable Minister of Foreign Affairs, Geoffrey Onyeama, in order to simplify the process for diplomats.
“The National Identity Number is mandatory for diplomats who will reside in Nigeria for a continuous period of two years or more.
“It is also mandatory for all other lawful residents in the country as stated in Section 16 of the National Identity Management Commission Act 2007.
“The Law has made it mandatory for Nigerians and legal residents to obtain a NIN since 2007. However, compliance has been low, until recently.”
January 17, 2021
NIN: NIMC Workers Ask FG To Address Their Demands Or Risk Another Strike
Workers of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) on Wednesday asked the Federal Government to take advantage of the 20-day window of the suspended industrial action to address all their demands or risk another strike by the Commission.
The Chairman of the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria, NIMC Chapter, Asekokhai Lucky, confirmed to Channels Television, that the meeting which was scheduled to hold with the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Pantanmi to address the issues has not been held, even though the workers suspended the strike in good faith.
The workers also decried the lack of adequate computers at the Commission’s Headquarters, as they insist it slows down the pace of work.
The explained to Channels Television correspondent who visited the NIMC Headquarters that the registration and capturing process takes about five minutes, but the lack of adequate computer systems slow the pace of work.
Last week, workers of the Commission went on strike, protesting poor welfare and the lack of motivation.
The strike was suspended on Monday after the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy intervened.
This suspended industrial action may be short-lived as the workers appeal to the Federal Government to take advantage of the 20-day window to address their demands.
January 13, 2021