By
Latiifah Amusan
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a directive to major telecommunications companies, including MTN Nigeria and Airtel, instructing them to fully bar phone lines lacking National Identity Numbers (NINs) and those whose NINs have not undergone verification.
MTN Nigeria disclosed this information in a corporate notice filed with the Nigerian Exchange Limited.
According to the statement signed by MTN Nigeria’s Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah, the industry-wide directive mandates the barring of phone lines without submitted NINs by February 28, 2024.
For NINs that have been submitted but not verified, the deadline is March 29, 2024, and for lines linked to unverified NINs, the cutoff is April 15, 2024.
The directive follows the NCC’s previous instruction in April 2022, requiring operators to restrict outgoing calls for subscribers whose lines are not associated with NINs.
MTN Nigeria encouraged affected subscribers to promptly submit their NINs for verification.
The statement reads,
“This is part of an industry-wide directive that requires phone lines for which the subscribers have not submitted their NINs to be barred on or before 28 February 2024. About NINs that have been submitted but not verified, such lines are to be barred on or before 29 March 2024, where five or more lines are linked to an unverified NIN.”
“Similarly, where less than five lines are linked to an unverified NIN, such lines are to be barred on or before 15 April 2024. All affected subscribers must be verified (biometrics and biodata) before their lines are unbarred.”
