As Nigeria’s deadline to register subscriber identity module (SIM) cards fast approaches, the National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers of Nigeria (NATCOMS) has appealed for an extension of the programme.

The Nigerian Communications Communication (NCC) has set June 30, 2013 as the deadline, after which it plans for telco providers to deactivate all unregistered cards.

But NATCOMS president, Deolu Ogunbanjo, has appealed for a three-month extension to enable telecoms subscribers who have encountered problems registering their SIM cards to complete the process.

He said that during the SIM registration exercise, some agents, overwhelmed by demand, have not collected all the required details of subscribers because of their rush to register as many subscribers as possible and make financial gains.

“In view of the these submissions, a lot of subscribers will be locked out due to no fault of theirs as they think they have registered their SIMs.

“Against the backdrop of the above and in order to ensure that every subscriber is given fair consideration, we are appealing to the NCC to give Nigerian subscribers a three-month one-way final warning extension on SIM registration," said Ogunbanjo.

His appeal has come days after the NCC has insisted that the June 30 deadline is not to be extended.

Meanwhile, the country's mobile network customer care centres are a hive of activity as clients make a last minute rush to beat the deadline.

The Nigerian SIM card registration programme is part of a bid to combat fraud and criminal activity by securing the identities of all mobile network subscribers nationwide.

There are more than 100 million mobile subscribers in Nigeria, which is Africa's most populous country with over 160 million people.