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Published 24 December 2020
IFE OGUNFUWA examines the impact of a government regulation that aims to harmonise digital identity with mobile network subscribers’ registration records for over 200 million Nigerians in 10 weeks
It is less than 10 days to the end of the year and Nigerians, who are supposed to be in a festive mood to celebrate their survival despite the challenging year, are in a race to beat the deadline set for SIM records update by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami.
With the threat to cut off any Nigerian, who has not done the National Identification Number integration with SIM registration on everyone’s mind, millions of Nigerians without the digital identity have bombarded the National Identity Management Commission registration centres across the country.
The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has said that a waiver might be granted to candidates who were yet to acquire a SIM card and want to register for the examinations.
This is coming after it reiterated that the use of a National Identification Number (NIN) is mandatory for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) and Direct Entry registration.
According to a report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), this disclosure on the requirements was made by the Registrar of JAMB, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, on the sidelines of a meeting with Computer Based Test (CBT) centre owners and other stakeholders on Friday in Abuja.
Nigeria: Telecom Workers Reject Govt s 2-Week Deadline allafrica.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from allafrica.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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NIN: Mammoth crowd storms NIMC office at Alausa over fear of SIM apocalypse
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Nigerians at NIMC office Alausa, Ikeja in Lagos, December 21, 2020. PHOTO: Twitter
A mammoth crowd stormed the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) office at Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos on Monday.
This was in response to the mandate given by the Federal Government on December 14 that all Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) not synchronised with valid National Identity Number (NIN) by December 30th 2020 will be disconnected.
The last time Nigerians were thrown into such turmoil was when the Federal Government announced the mandatory for all bank customers to be captured in the Bank Verification Number (BVN) project.
…Unjustifiable, unnecessary, stop it, SERAP tells Buhari
…Lawyer drags FG, NCC to court over NIN registration deadline
By Victor Ahiuma-Young, Olasunkanmi Akoni & By Henry Ojelu
Workers in the nation’s Communications industry under the aegis of Private Telecommunications and Communications Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, PTECSSAN, weekend rejected the two-week deadline given by the Federal Government to telecommunications operators to block subscribers’ lines that failed to link them up with the National Identification Number, NIN.
This came as Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, asked President Muhammadu Buhari, to stop NCC directives on NIN and the threat to block SIM cards that failed to meet the deadline, describing directives as “burdensome, unjustified, unnecessary.”