The Federal Government has extended the on-going National Identification Number, (NIN), and subscriber identity module, (SIM), integration exercise till December 31, 2021.
It was gathered that the deadline was shifted from the previous date of October 31.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, conveyed the approval of the federal government to extend the deadline in a statement issued yesterday.
The statement was jointly signed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)’s Director of Public Affairs, Ikechukwu Adinde,
and Head of Corporate Communications at the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Kayode Adegoke.
“The decision to extend the deadline was made further to appeals by the Mobile Network Operators and other industry stakeholders, soliciting for a further extension to ensure better compliance with government’s directive and to avoid widening the digital divide.
“The extension would also provide the enabling environment for the registration of Nigerians in remote areas, diaspora, schools, hospitals, worship centres, as well as foreigners, diplomatic missions, those in other areas that were hitherto unreachable, and increase enrolments in countries with a significant number of Nigerians”, the statement partly read.
The statement further disclosed that over 66 million unique NIN have been issued, with an average of three to four SIMs per NIN.
