The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has explained that SIM cards previously linked to the National Identification Numbers (NIN) were blocked because they were bad.
NCC spokesman, Reuben Muoka, revealed this during an interview on Channels Television.
Morka said: “People who probably didn’t get a cleared or verified NIN” had been barred because “the earlier ones they submitted were not good.”
He said some SIM cards had verification and identification issues, such as disparity in information, including names and other data.
“There are still some subscribers whose NINs are yet to be verified by the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC, and those have to also be corrected,” Muoka said.
It will be recalled that many subscribers have complained that they had previously linked their NIN with their SIM cards years ago but the NCC spokesman said some lines were barred because the information on the NIN did not tally with what the customers registered their SIM cards with.
He said subscribers will have to visit the outlets of their service providers to validate their NINs and resolve other matters.
Muoka added: “For now, it requires those physical visits to the stations to get them verified and validated but in the future, we hope this will be done virtually.’’
The NCC had last week issued a directive to telecom service providers to bar subscribers who have failed to link their phone numbers to their NIN on or before February 28, 2024.
