FG approves establishment of SIM swap centres in all 774 LGAs

The federal government has approved the establishment of dedicated subscriber identity module (SIM) swap centres in each of the 774 local government areas in the country.

This was announced in a statement jointly signed by Ikechukwu Adinde, the director of public affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and Kayode Adegoke, head of corporate communications at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), on Wednesday.

The decision was reached at the fourth ministerial task force meeting on the NIN-SIM registration.

According to the statement, the NIN enrolment agent licenses granted to mobile network operators was also extended from one to five years.

However, no update was provided about the April 6 deadline for the linkage of national identity numbers (NIN) to SIM cards.

“This is a deliberate effort of the federal government to simplify the enrolment process for Nigerians and legal residents,” the statement read.

“The technical committee was mandated to complete the development of a new SIM issuance strategy that cannot be compromised. This will ensure that there is no repeat of the past process that was compromised through pre-registration by some agents.

“A multi-sectoral adhoc committee was tasked to immediately complete the review of the processes for new SIM activations for legal residents staying in Nigeria for less than 24 months. The membership of the committee was drawn from NCC, NIMC, Nigeria Immigration Service and the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).”

FG Approves the Establishment of SIM Swap Centres by MNOs and the Extension of their Enrolment License Tenure
…Mr President commends the achievement recorded so far@nimc_ng
@FMoCDENigeria @DrIsaPantami @aliyuaziz @NgComCommission @UwaSuleiman pic.twitter.com/jdsOITnsJI

— NIMC (@nimc_ng) March 3, 2021

In January, the federal government licensed private and public sector organisations, including telcos, to carry out NIN registration after Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, directed telcos to suspend the sale, registration and activation of new SIM cards until an audit of the subscriber registration database is completed.