The Federal Government has made good its threat of barring all outgoing calls on unlinked lines to the National Identification Number (NIN) with effect from today, Monday April 4, 2022.
Director, public affairs, Ikechukwu Adinde and Head, corporate communications, NIMC, Kayode Adegoke in a joint statement revealed that after several ground-shifting and extensions for Nigerians to get their SIM linked with NIN, the time is now right to face the consequences for erring citizens.
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“It would be recalled that President Muhammadu Buhari, GCFR, gave the directive for the implementation and commencement of the exercise in December 2020, as part of the administration’s security and social policies. The deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage have been extended on multiple occasions to allow Nigerians to freely comply with the Policy. The FG also took into consideration the passionate appeals by several bodies – Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Civil Societies, Professional Bodies and a host of others – for the extension of the deadlines in the past.
“Accordingly, Mr President graciously approved the many requests to extend deadlines for the NIN-SIM linkage. At this point, however, Government has determined that the NIN-SIM Policy implementation can proceed, as machinery has already been put in place to ensure compliance by citizens and legal residents. The implementation impacts on Government’s strategic planning, particularly in the areas of security and socio-economic projections,” the statement said.
Also confirming the report in a tweet, Personal Assistant on Digital and New Media to President Muhammadu Buhari, Bashir Ahmad, tweeted that the axe takes effect immediately.