FG Orders Cancellation Of N20 NIN Retrieval Charge

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ibrahim
has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission and the
National Identity Management Commission to remove the N20 USSD fee
imposed on subscribers for National Identification Number retrieval
requests.

The NCC had recently asked telecommunication service providers
to block SIM cards not registered with NIN after two weeks.

The government also listed 173 centres and 30 state government
institutions approved for NIN enrolment across Nigeria.

Subscribers who had enrolled for NIN in the past but don’t
remember their identification numbers are required to pay a fee for
the retrieval.

But in a statement on Friday by the spokesperson for the
minister, Uwa Suleiman, the government ordered telcos to stop the
deduction for NIN retrieval.

The statement titled, ‘Pantami Orders Cancellation Of NIN
Retrieval Charge Across All Networks’, partly read, “The Minister’s
directive which takes immediate effect, is an intervention aimed at
making the process easier and affordable.

“In a letter conveying the implementation of the directive, the
Executive Vice Chairman NCC and the Director-General of NIMC
informed Dr Pantami that the relevant authorities had met with, and
negotiated a waiver with the Mobile Network Operators in that
regard.

“By this waiver, all Nigerians, subscribers and applicants can
access the service using the *346# code for their NIN retrieval at
no charge for the duration of the NIN/SIM Card integration
exercise.”

The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ibrahim
has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission and the
National Identity Management Commission to remove the N20 USSD fee
imposed on subscribers for National Identification Number retrieval
requests.

The NCC had recently asked telecommunication service providers
to block SIM cards not registered with NIN after two weeks.

The government also listed 173 centres and 30 state government
institutions approved for NIN enrolment across Nigeria.

Subscribers who had enrolled for NIN in the past but don’t
remember their identification numbers are required to pay a fee for
the retrieval.

But in a statement on Friday by the spokesperson for the
minister, Uwa Suleiman, the government ordered telcos to stop the
deduction for NIN retrieval.

The statement titled, ‘Pantami Orders Cancellation Of NIN
Retrieval Charge Across All Networks’, partly read, “The Minister’s
directive which takes immediate effect, is an intervention aimed at
making the process easier and affordable.

“In a letter conveying the implementation of the directive, the
Executive Vice Chairman NCC and the Director-General of NIMC
informed Dr Pantami that the relevant authorities had met with, and
negotiated a waiver with the Mobile Network Operators in that
regard.

“By this waiver, all Nigerians, subscribers and applicants can
access the service using the *346# code for their NIN retrieval at
no charge for the duration of the NIN/SIM Card integration
exercise.”