The Federal government has rolled out fresh modalities for SIM card replacement in a bid to achieve a linking of subscribers’ data with their National Identity Numbers (NIN).
Subscribers, who have lost, damaged or misplaced their SIM cards are at liberty to retrieve their cards under the new SIM card replacement policy endorsed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr. Isa Pantami.
The policy announcement was made in a statement issued on Saturday by Ikechukwu Adinde, director of public affairs at the National Communications Commission (NCC) and Kayode Adegoke, spokesperson of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) said.
Before replacement could be done, “the subscriber shall present a NIN; that an effective verification of the NIN is carried out by NIMC.
“And that the relevant guidelines and regulations of NCC concerning SIM card replacement are fully adhered to,” the document stated.
The government on December 15, 2020, announced a policy shift, ordering all SIM cards not linked to NINs to be blocked after 30th December.
It was compelled to shift the deadline by three weeks to January 19 after a nationwide backlash against the new rule.
A ministerial task force chaired by Pantami has now established a technical panel comprising representatives of the NCC, NIMC and Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria and mobile network operators for the implementation of the SIM card replacement policy.
“The technical committee is charged with the operationalisation of the process to ensure an expedited linkage of all SIM registration records with NIN,” the statement said.
The new rules guiding SIM card replacement came into force following the approval of the recommendations of the committee.