Bandits expose SIM-NIN linkage failure, police can’t track gunmen The Punch Published 13 July 2021 Kidnap victims on Monday explained how bandits had been thwarting the Federal Government’s security regulations in the telecommunications sector. Residents of Katsina, Zamfara and Kaduna states, who recounted their experiences in kidnappers’ dens, told our correspondents that they made the bandits’ telephone numbers available to security agents. They, however, lamented that nothing was done to apprehend the hoodlums, thus making a mess of the Federal Government’s directives on registration of telephone subscribers and the linkage of SIM with the National Identification Number. Under sections 19 and 20 of the Nigerian Communications Commission (Registration of Telephone Subscribers) Regulations, 2011, telecommunications firms are expected to register all subscribers.