The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has instructed telecommunication companies to unblock all lines that were previously blocked for not being linked to National Identification Numbers (NINs). This decision was made due to the difficulties caused by the blockages.
Over the weekend, millions of phone users had their lines blocked, leading to speculation that the government was trying to prevent a planned #EndBadGovernance protest against hunger and economic hardship. Human rights lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa accused the government of trying to hinder the protest by restricting internet access and called on the regulator to intervene.
In a statement on Monday, the NCC confirmed that lines not linked to NINs were blocked by major telecom companies like MTN, Airtel, and Globacom. The NCC mentioned that despite multiple deadline extensions, many phone lines remain unlinked to verified NINs. The purpose of the NIN-SIM linkage exercise is to enhance national security and ensure an accurate national SIM ownership database.
The NCC emphasized that the NIN-SIM linkage policy is crucial for verifying and protecting users’ identities and supporting a robust digital economy. To address the challenges caused by the blockages, the NCC has instructed operators to reactivate all disconnected lines for a limited time to allow users to link their NINs to their SIMs properly.
As of December 2023, Nigeria has over 224 million subscribers, with MTN having the highest market share at 38.79%. Globacom and Airtel each have 61 million subscribers, while 9mobile has 13.9 million users. In contrast, the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) reported issuing over 105 million NINs to Nigerians in the last four years.