The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Pantami has said the federal government again extended the deadline for NIN-SIM linkage to give Nigerians and legal residents more time to integrate their NIN with the SIM.
Pantami made this known in a statement jointly signed and released by Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, Director Public Affairs, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and Mr. Kayode Adegoke, Head Corporate Communications, Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC).
The statement followed a the 2nd high-level meeting of the Ministerial Taskforce on NIN-SIM registration which was held on Monday.
Following the meeting, TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reports the ongoing NIN and SIM integration exercise was extended by 8 weeks, with a new deadline pegged for April 6, 2021.
“It was reported that a total of 56.18 million NINs have been collected by 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,” the statement reads.
Meanwhile, 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.