National SIM blocking day postponed

The federal government has postponed the deadline pegged to block the SIM cards of Nigerians and legal residents who are yet to link their National Identification Number

The National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) made this known in a public notice published on Tuesday via the Commission’s official Twitter handle.

Recall that the FG had on December 15, 2020 declared that all SIMs that were not registered with valid NIN on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked after December 30, 2020.

However, following public outcry against the short notice, it later extended the deadline, giving 3 weeks’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020, to January 19, 2021, and a 6-week extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020, to February 9, 2021.

“All Nigerians and legal residents are advised to enroll for their National Identification Number (NIN) and link them before February 9th, 2021,” the notice by NIMC reads.

By the notice, it means the federal government will not block SIM cards of subscribers with NIN until February 9th, along with subscribers without NIN.