In anticipation of the impending National Identification Number (NIN)/SIM card harmonization deadline set for February 2024, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Engineer Gbenga Adebayo, emphasized the need for phone lines and their owners to be easily identifiable.
The call comes in the wake of directives issued by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) last Friday, stating that subscribers without a valid National Identity Number (NIN) will face disconnection starting from February 28, 2024.
Subscribers with five or more lines lacking verified NINs will be barred from March 29, while those with under five unverified lines will be disconnected from April 15th.
During a televised interview monitored by Royal FM News, Engineer Adebayo highlighted the prevalence of subscribers possessing multiple SIM cards for various devices, such as mobile phones and Mifi.
In response to this, he disclosed that ALTON, in collaboration with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), is actively working towards establishing a reliable database to ensure accurate identification of phone line owners.
“Ideally we shouldn’t have lines in a national network that are not identifiable, we shouldn’t have subscribers whose records are not linked to their sim records. It’s a provision of the law and we all must abide by that. We’ve had series of postponements. Someday, somebody has to draw the line. We think for the benefit of all, in order to make the process easier and better for everyone, the more extension of time we have, the better,”he stated.
“But the question remains that this extension can’t be perpetuated, at some point we must draw the line. So even if it be February or not, we wanted something longer than that February, but the commission had said that the maximum we can have is between February, March and April. But in our view, we think that between now and then, we should have a number of people who don’t have their records integrated to have that done,” he continued.
“So if the government is actually talking about digital economy, progress of the economy, reliability on data that we have for the reason of financial inclusion or financial transactions, we must have a credible national database and I think this is why all of us as citizens of the country must adopt this and accept it as a necessity for the good of all,” he concluded.
Additionally, Adebayo revealed that ALTON is currently engaged in discussions with banks that owe approximately two hundred billion naira in Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) fees.
“It’s been a long walk. We’re on it. It’s not resolved, but we’re making progress. Parties are discussing. We’re looking at the fine details. I think more than it has been in times past, everybody is now inclined to find a solution to this problem.”
“And I can’t say to you that it’s resolved but we are hopeful that we see some movement going forward, and we hope that we will not come to a point where we will come to a stalemate. But I think while we are hopeful that this will be resolved, parties are discussing and hopefully it will be resolved.”
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