NIN Registration Hits 80.7 Million 19 Days After SIM Ban

Nineteen days after the Nigeria Identity Management Commission barreď about 72 million telecommunication subscribers for failing to comply with the Federal Government’s NIN-Subscriber Identity Module policy, the agency issued 80.7 million National Identification Numbers.

The data on the portal of the agency showed that the number of NIN issued to Nigerians stands at 80.7 million as of April 23, 2022.

Following the ban, registration for NIN increased by 4.67 per cent from 77.1 million as of March 21, 2022, to 80.7 million as of April 23, 2022.

According to a breakdown of the data, about 20.56 million NINs have been issued in the North-Western part of the nation; 20.23 million in the South-West; 13.59 million in the North-Central, 9.96 million in the North-East, 9.34 million in the South-South, and 6.87 million in the South-East.

Recall that the agency on the 4th of April barred about 72.77 million active telecommunication subscribers from making calls on their SIMs following the enforcement of the Federal Government’s SIM-NIN policy.

As of the time of implementing the policy, 125 million subscribers had linked their NINs to their SIMs, while 78 million NINs had been issued.

The Chairman, of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, in an interview with Punch claimed that more subscribers had since submitted their NINs for linkage.

According to him, as more subscribers submit their NINs, the number of people with deactivated lines will reduce.

He said, “I don’t have the current statistics, but I can say the numbers are looking up. We have more players, and more people are submitting their NINs every day as they become available.

“Things are looking up, compliance level has improved significantly, and we are hoping that as more people have their NINs captured and submit their NINs to operators, people complaining that their lines are deactivated will naturally ease out. But the numbers are looking up.”

Commenting on the plight of subscribers, the National Association of Telecoms Subscribers, Adeolu Ogunbanjo, stated that subscribers were still struggling to get their NINs, to link them with their SIMs.

He said, “There is still a long way to go. About 72 million subscribers are still struggling with making calls.

“If ALTON says there is an improvement, I want to believe it is on the upload side. The uptake capacity is still slow. The operation is cumbersome, apart from that, it is slow. It is still taking them much time to generate NIN. It still takes about one week to generate a NIN, if you are lucky. Most people who want to get their work done at a relatively fast pace still have to pay. This situation has birthed a racketeering ring.”