CITIZENS COMPASS –The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on Monday, July 29, 2024, ordered telecommunication networks to unbar the telephone numbers of subscribers who were barred from receiving or making calls.
Over the weekend, many telecom subscribers/consumers were unable to access their phone lines because of the inability of many telecom consumers to verify their National Identification Numbers (NINs) with their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs). This meant that their numbers were blocked by their telecom service providers in keeping with the laws and policies of the NIN-SIM linkage.
On Monday, social media was awash with videos of subscribers who besieged the offices of their telecommunication providers in a bid to unbar their lines.
The videos captured long queues of subscribers with an overwhelming crowd all over.
This attracted reactions from social media users who have been emphasizing the negative effects such long queues would have on the general well-being of the subscribers.
In Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State, an Islamic cleric, Alhaji Abdul Rasheed Oluwagbenga lamented the that barring of his MTN numbers has resulted in emotional and psychological stress as many of his clients were unable to access him.
According to him, he was attending to a customer who was to visit him from Lagos to collect some prayer items unfortunately his two MTN lines have been barred thereby stalling further conversation with the client. “That was how I lost a job of N100,000.”
He said he quickly purchased an Airtel sim but this was too late.
In Lagos State, a Community Development Committee (CDC) leader was unable to access various platforms of his communities due to barring of his number by MTN.
Telecom consumers and the public will recall the compulsory linkage of NIN with SIM which began in December 2020 when the government directed telecommunication companies to bar unregistered SIM cards and SIMs that were not linked to NIN.
Since December 2023, the Commission has since reviewed the deadline a few times; April 15, 2024, was set as the deadline for the full network barring subscribers with four or fewer SIMs that had unverified NIN details. This deadline was then reviewed to July 31, 2024, to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified. Despite these extensions, many phone lines are yet to be linked with verified NINs.
The objectives of this exercise by the Federal Government of Nigeria include enhancing national security and ensuring the national SIM ownership database is accurate. The NIN-SIM linkage policy aids in verifying and protecting users’ identities while also providing a critical infrastructure that assures access to the benefits of a robust digital economy for the citizenry.
The consumer is our priority, therefore, considering the challenges the blockages have caused, the Commission has directed all operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend given the short time available for consumers to undertake the verification of their NINs with their SIMs. Reactivated consumers are to note that this is for a limited period to allow them to properly link their NIN to their SIM.
Members of the public who are yet to verify their SIMs are encouraged to do so as soon as possible to maintain access to their lines.
