Amina Mansur
The spokesperson of Telecoms Operators in Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, has revealed that millions of SIM cards were disconnected across the country.
According to him, those affected were mainly connected to devices such as MiFi and tablets, which the subscribers did not link to their National Identification Number (NIN).
He noted that such SIM cards were connected to the devices before the year 2022 and they had not been in use hence the subscribers did not see the need to link them to their NIN.
Since the commencement of SIM card disconnection on February 28, as directed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), millions of subscribers whose SIM cards were disconnected, have not been able to make or receive calls.
NCC had last December, given orders to telecoms operators (Telcos) to commence full barring of all unregistered and improperly registered SIM cards on their networks that had not been linked to the NIN of the SIM card holder.
“It is a directive that is in accordance with regulatory orders and we have commenced total disconnection of all unregistered SIM cards and all SIM cards that are not linked to NIN.
“Since NCC gave the directive in December last year, we have carried out several campaigns to sensitise telecoms operators on the need to ensure proper registration of their SIM cards and to also link same to their NIN,” Adebayo said.