President Muhammadu Buhari
Telecos yet to comply with Buhari’s directive on blocking of unlinked NIN-SIM phone lines
24 hours after President Muhammadu Buhari ordered the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to direct telecommunications firms to block phone lines not already linked to the National Identification Number (NIN), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) operators are yet to comply.
This is also the operators confirmed that they have received the order by the NCC.
It would be recalled that Federal Government had initially announced a deadline for SIM-NIN linkage for all users of GSM lines in the country, a timeline which expired on March 31, after about eight postponements, spanning nearly two years.
The new order by President Buhari effectively bars outgoing calls from all the affected lines, said to be in the region of 72 million phone numbers.
A statement issued by the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Tuesday, jointly signed by its Chairman, Mr Gbenga Adebayo and Head of Operations, Mr Gbolahan Awonuga.
“We can confirm that our members have received formal directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to bar outgoing calls on subscriber lines that are not in compliance with the NIN-SIM Linkage Policy requirement.
He said the policy required that all Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs) must be linked with an NIN.
“Our members are committed to complying with the instructions and call on telecommunication subscribers who have not obtained or linked their NIN to their SIMs, to do so at any of the designated centres,“ Adebayo said.
The chairman said it members remained committed to supporting the Federal Government and upholding the rights of citizens to communicate.
