Linking NIN To SIM: What Is Your Challenge So Far?

One of the latest policies is to add (or harmonize) the National Identity Number to our SIM card registrations. First, they gave an unrealistic deadline but extended it to March 2021.

While this is good to curb insecurity and/or check crime and other things, the exercise is already raising more questions than answers are provided, which are:

1. What happens to Mr Ade Nwosu Hassan whose full name reflected on his NIN but whose SIM card was registered with Ade Nwosu?

My neighbour is in this group of persons. He went to his network provider, and he was asked to go back to NIMC to remove any name that is not in his SIM registration.

Shouldn’t it be a case where since there is no error or incomplete name of the subscriber from NIN, the network providers, who seem to be clueless as to what to do, add the full name of the subscriber to his registration (an update), since his biometrics and picture can be verified?

2. SIM cards registered in Company lines. My friend has a business where they use CUG lines to make cheap calls and other benefits that comes with it.

He has over 30 staff and each CUG line is registered to his company and not the staff. What happens since Companies don’t have NIN, let alone several NIN to register all the lines registered to it? Will those lines go dormant?

3. What happens to those whose NIN registrations has one error or another? For Example, I know someone whose name is “Adejoh Yusuf” but was misspelt as “Adejh Yusuf” You know that his NIN can’t be verified as there would be discrepancies.

As at today, the Telecom companies have no clear-cut information as to how to resolve some issues related to linking NIN to SIM cards yet.

They keep redirecting people to NIMC, even when there may be no need. Remember that NIMC and other authorized bodies would be under immense pressure this period. And the newly created NIMC app my not resolve some issues like error correction etc.

I even know someone whose NIN number on his NIN slip doesn’t work but when he dials a code to get it from NIMC, another (correct) code pops up.

Thank goodness an app was launched by FG but some issues need one to be physically present at NIMC to resolve.

What Is Your Challenge So Far?