LAGOS – The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), says GSM operators have collected 47.8 million National Identification Number (NINs) from subscribers as at Jan 18.
This is contained in a statement by Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC Director, Public Affairs on Tuesday in Lagos.
Adinde quoted Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Isa Ali Pantami as saying that the figure showed that many Nigerian subscribers would be linked to their NINs before the Feb.9, deadline.
Pantami said that the collection of NIN was at an average of three to four SIMs per subscriber.
He expressed the Federal Government’s appreciation for the commitment shown by stakeholders and citizens and urged them to submit their NINs before the deadline.
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The Independent National Electoral Commission is considering making the National Identity Number a precondition for registering voters when the continuous voter registration exercise commences in a few weeks,
The PUNCH has learnt.
The PUNCH on Tuesday.
He said the NIN would help tackle challenges of underage voting, alien voting and other challenges associated with registration.
The national commissioner, who wished to remain anonymous because he was not authorised to speak, said a final decision would soon be reached.
The INEC official explained that the permanent voter card was only supposed to be in use for a maximum of 10 years, adding that most countries rely on a national database and not the Permanent Voter Card for voting.
It was learnt that the over 12 million SIM cards were pending because most of the users do not have the national identity numbers.
There is an average of three to four SIMs per telecom subscriber in the country, according to the NCC.
This means about 191.2m active SIM cards have so far been linked to their owners’ unique identity numbers.
Nigeria’s teledensity rose by 2.2 per cent from 104.4 per cent to 106.6 per cent in October, increasing the number of telecom subscribers to 203.5 million, according to NCC data.
The federal government had given January 19 and February 9 deadlines for subscribers already with NINs and those without NINs, respectively, to link their SIMs with their unique identity numbers.
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