The Federal Government has lifted the ban on new Subscribers
Identification Module (SIMs) card registration.
![image](/2020/10/lawreport.jpg")
The effective date for implementation, the government said, is
Monday, April 19, 2021.
![image](/2021/01/payne-alex.jpg")
It however placed NIN registration as mandatory for registering
new SIM cards.
The latest development was contained in revised National Digital
Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration approved by President
Muhammadu Buhari.
A statement by Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Femi Adeluyi,
reads in part: “The implementation of the Policy will commence on
Monday, 19th of April 2021.
“The issuance of New SIMs and other suspended activities will
resume on the same date, as long as verification is done and the
guidelines are fully adhered to.
“The Minister has also directed NCC and NIMC to ensure that the
provisions of the Policy are strictly followed by all operators and
subscribers.
“The Policy includes Guidelines on New SIM Acquisition and
Activation, SIM Replacement, New SIM Activation for Corporates and
Internet-of-Things/Machine-to-Machine (IoT/M2M), amongst
others.
“The possession of a National Identity number will be a
prerequisite for each of these categories. For the Corporate
registration, institutions will be required to appoint a Telecoms
Master (at the minimum of an Executive Management level) to provide
the operational Primary NIN representation.
“The Telecoms Master will also be responsible for ensuring that
the users provide their NINs to serve as a Secondary NIN.
“For IoT/M2M activations, SIM security protocols would be
implemented on the SIM profile to ensure that SIMs can only be used
for point to point data services specific to the URL they are
working with. All other services will be barred.”
The Federal Government has lifted the ban on new Subscribers
Identification Module (SIMs) card registration.
The effective date for implementation, the government said, is
Monday, April 19, 2021.
It however placed NIN registration as mandatory for registering
new SIM cards.
The latest development was contained in revised National Digital
Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration approved by President
Muhammadu Buhari.
A statement by Technical Assistant (Information Technology) to
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Femi Adeluyi,
reads in part: “The implementation of the Policy will commence on
Monday, 19th of April 2021.
“The issuance of New SIMs and other suspended activities will
resume on the same date, as long as verification is done and the
guidelines are fully adhered to.
“The Minister has also directed NCC and NIMC to ensure that the
provisions of the Policy are strictly followed by all operators and
subscribers.
“The Policy includes Guidelines on New SIM Acquisition and
Activation, SIM Replacement, New SIM Activation for Corporates and
Internet-of-Things/Machine-to-Machine (IoT/M2M), amongst
others.
“The possession of a National Identity number will be a
prerequisite for each of these categories. For the Corporate
registration, institutions will be required to appoint a Telecoms
Master (at the minimum of an Executive Management level) to provide
the operational Primary NIN representation.
“The Telecoms Master will also be responsible for ensuring that
the users provide their NINs to serve as a Secondary NIN.
“For IoT/M2M activations, SIM security protocols would be
implemented on the SIM profile to ensure that SIMs can only be used
for point to point data services specific to the URL they are
working with. All other services will be barred.”