Nigeria sets final SIM registration deadline

Nigerians have less than two weeks to register their SIM cards after the local regulator announced September 14 as the final mandatory registration deadline.

The announcement comes nearly four years after the start of Nigeria's SIM registration initiative.

Late last week, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) urged mobile network operators to ensure that all SIMs are verified and linked to National Identity Numbers (NINs) by the specified date.

The mandatory SIM registration process began in December 2020, following a government directive to disable unregistered SIMs. However, the country's registration process deadlines have been extended several times.

Despite several extensions – the most recent being until July 31 this year – a significant number of SIMs still required verification.

However, the NCC reported that over 153 million SIMs have now been successfully linked to a NIN, achieving a compliance rate of 96%, a notable increase from 69.7% in January 2024.

Reasons for SIM registration

The NCC said by verifying all mobile users, SIM registration strengthens confidence in digital transactions, reduces the risk of fraud and cybercrime, and supports greater participation in e-commerce, digital banking and mobile money services.

"Through collaboration with the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC), the NCC has uncovered alarming cases where individuals possessed an unusually high number of SIM cards – some exceeding 100,000," the NCC added.

Nigeria joins a list of African countries that have implemented mandatory SIM card registration processes. (Source: Image by freepik)

The regulator added that it remained committed to working with security agencies and other stakeholders to crack down on the sale of pre-registered SIMs, thereby safeguarding national security and ensuring the integrity of mobile numbers in Nigeria.

The NCC said to ensure full compliance with the NIN-SIM linkage policy, it has directed all mobile network operators (MNOs) to complete the mandatory verification and linkage of SIMs to NINs by September 14.

"Effective September 15, 2024, the Commission expects that no SIM operating in Nigeria will be without a valid NIN," the NCC explained.

"We urge all members of the public who have not yet completed their NIN-SIM linkage or who have faced issues due to verification mismatches to visit their service providers promptly to update their details before the deadline. Alternatively, the approved self-service portals are available for this purpose," the NCC said in its statement.

African SIM registration trend

SIM registration regulations have been changing and modernizing in several African countries with similar drives by governments to get SIM cards linked to national ID cards.

Nigeria joins a list of countries that have already implemented mandatory SIM card registration processes including Lesotho, Ghana, Namibia and Mauritania.

SIM registration deadlines have proved hard to enforce in some parts of Africa in recent years and, just like Nigeria, Tanzania has also pushed back its registration deadline several times.

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa