The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed telecommunication companies to reactivate all lines blocked because they weren’t linked to the National Identification Numbers (NINs).
Several phone users had their lines blocked over the weekend with speculations that the disconnection of SIM cards was one of measures of the government to suppress planned #EndBadGovernance protest against hunger and economic hardship scheduled for August.
In a statement on Monday, the NCC confirmed that indeed lines not linked with NIN were blocked by MTN, Airtel, Globacom and others over the weekend.
The regulator said since the commencement of the NIN-SIM linkage exercise in 2020, it had reviewed the deadlines a few times with July 31, 2024 as the latest target date.
“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 in view of 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,” the regulator said, urging members of the public who are yet to verify their SIMs to do so immediately.