Nigeria will not give consumers additional time to validate SIM cards, sets final deadline.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has set September 14, 2024 as the final registration date for Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) subscribers.

Yesterday, the NCC urged mobile network operators to complete the mandatory SIM verification and linking to National Identity Numbers (NINs) by that date.

This was announced in a statement issued by Reuben Muoka, director of public affairs at NCC.

SIM registration regulations in Africa have been in force for more than ten years. However, in some countries, rules have been changed to include additional aspects in the SIM registration procedure.

In Nigeria, compulsory SIM registration began in December 2020, when the government ordered telecom operators to disable unregistered SIMs; however, the deadline was extended to July 31, 2024, due to a large number of SIMs still requiring verification.

The NCC released the following statement yesterday: "To date, over 153 million SIMs have been successfully linked to a NIN, reflecting an impressive compliance rate of 96%, a substantial increase from 69.7% in January 2024."

According to NCC data, there were 219 million active mobile numbers across the mobile networks of MTN, Globacom, Airtel, and 9mobile in March 2024.

Muoka stated that the goal is to achieve 100% compliance by the specified deadline. This means that any mobile numbers that are not linked to NINs by September 14 will be blocked by network operators.

He said: “Effective September 15, 2024, the Commission expects that no SIM operating in Nigeria will be without a valid NIN.

“We urge all members of the public who have not yet completed their NIN-SIM linkage, or who have faced issues due to verification mismatches, to visit their service providers promptly to update their details before the deadline. Alternatively, the approved self-service portals are available for this purpose.”