NIN-SIM: Those Barred Will Not Be Unblocked Without Linkage — NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated that those whose SIM cards were blocked last week will not be unblocked unless they link them to their National Identity Numbers (NINs).

The development was disclosed in a statement by the aforementioned commission on Tuesday.

"The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) wishes to officially inform telecoms consumers, whose Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards are barred from making calls, that affected SIMs will not be unbarred by the service providers until they are linked with the National Identification Numbers (NINs) of the SIM holders", the statement reads.

It was also stated that the decision became necessary after a viral weblink (https://bit.ly/NCC-Sim-Unbar-Gov-Ng) circulated on social media and other websites.

According to the commission, the narrative surrounding the spread of the weblink represented patent misinformation and disinformation meant to mislead members of the public by making them click it so as to be unblocked.

"The misleading, viral message mischievously displays the NCC logo and ostensibly promises members of the public that by clicking the web link and following further instructions in that regard, subscribers with barred SIM cards can unbar such SIMs across mobile networks without a valid NIN.

"For the avoidance of doubt, the NCC wishes to state categorically that it never issued such statement, directing subscribers or indicating that subscribers can unbar their SIM without a NIN.

"As such, the originators and peddlers of the spurious message were out to mischievously mislead unsuspecting members of the public and should therefore be disregarded in its entirety", it said.

Addressing those who are yet to link their SIM cards to their NINs, the commission stated that the right to do is to register their SIMs at accredited centres across the nation and then link their NIN to the SIM cards through channels provided by their service providers.

"The NCC, therefore, uses this opportunity to reiterate its commitment to the Federal Government’s directive on the NIN-SIM link to among others, strengthen security situation in the country, assist in other socio-economic planning activities of the government as well as to always advance the course of consumer protection from falling victim to the antics of cyber fraudsters", it added.