Nigeria Extends NIN-SIM Verification Till June 30

The Federal Government of Nigeria has again approved the extension of the deadline for NIN-SIM data verification to June 30.

The extension was as a result of the virtual meeting chaired by Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, and attended by the chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof Adeolu Akande, the executive vice-chairman/CEO of NCC, Prof Umar Garba Dambatta and the director-general/CEO of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Aliyu Azeez.

A statement jointly signed recently, by both the Director of Public Affairs, NCC, Dr. Ike Adinde and Head of Corporate Communications at NIMC, Kayode Adegoke, explained that the postponement of the deadline was also based on the request by stakeholders for an extension till June 30 in order to make it easier for all citizens and legal residents to register.

The earlier deadline was June 6, but that has been extended by another three weeks.

For example, almost 54 million people have obtained their NIN and this can translate to up to 190 million mobile numbers since empirical evidence suggests that each unique NIN maps to three to four phone lines. The much-awaited Android enrolment system is now ready for deployment and this has the potential to significantly accelerate the speed and ease of enrolments.