NIN Applicants Receive New Regulations As SIM Cards Set To Be Deactivated

Applicants seeking to obtain their National Identification Number (NIN) were, on Tuesday, given new guidelines by The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC).

The Commission’s spokesman, Kayode Adegoke, disclosed this in a statement tagged, ‘NIMC Adopts Booking System For NIN Enrolment’.

“Mindful of the second wave of the COVID-19 which continues to severely affect public health and cause unprecedented disruptions, the Commission wishes to announce that it has adopted a couple of measures to contain the spread of the virus whilst ensuring its services to Nigerians are not entirely interrupted,” the statement read in part.

“Effective December 30, 2020, attending to applicants would be based on Booking System. For Bookings, applicants are to visit any of the NIMC Offices closest to them during stipulated business hours (9am – 1pm).

“Once admitted into the office, a Number-Issuing queue management system will be in place to ensure orderliness and strict adherence to Covid-19 Protocols,” the statement revealed.

In addition, the Commission directed NIN applicants to observe Covid-19 protocols like, wearing of face masks, observing social distancing and sanitizing their hands while at NIMC centres nationwide.

Read also: NCC Implements New SIM Registration Rules

As per a Federal Government directive, earlier, the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) had ordered telecommunications companies to deactivate the telephone lines of subscribers who failed to link their phone numbers to their National Identity Number.

This directive caused a frenzy as multitudes logged on to the NIMC web portal to process their National Identity Number.

This resulted in the Commission’s portal crashing, last week.

The NIMC centres nationwide were no different as large crowds thronged in, on Tuesday, shortly after the Christmas break.

The official number of mobile network connections in Nigeria, as at October, stood at 207.58 million.

However, only 43 million Nigerians have obtained their National Identity Number.

This implies that 164 million telephone users stand the risk of their lines being deactivated as from January 19, 2021.