MTN, AIRTEL, GLO, others face risk of losing over 100m subscribers as NIMC complicates NIN registration  

The various service providers in the telecommunications industry on Nigeria which include MTN, Airtel, GLO, including internet providers and others, may facing the risk of losing over 100 million subscribers on their networks as the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) complicates the processes of National Identification Number (NIN) the federal government mandated to be linked to all telephone lines. The government had adjusted the deadline from two weeks ultimatum in December 2020 to four weeks which elapse on January 19 for linking already registered NIN subscribers and February 9, 2021 for linking new NIN registered subscribers.

NIMC coordinators in some states had emphasized that bank account holders who had earlier registered for the Bank Verification Number (BVN) have NIN contained in their BVN. They had advised citizens to retrieve their NIN through a given code. This was a relief to many citizens who gather in crowds daily at the different NIMC offices across the states to register for NIN in this period of coronavirus pandemic which the federal government claims a second wave has been spreading and is deadly, with threats for a disastrous second total lockdown. While the BVN option was slow and not accessible to some subscribers who attempted using the code provided for retrieval, the Director General of NIMC disapproved the option, insisting the process is invalid. He insisted that the BVN retrieved NIN is invalid except updated at the NIMC offices which registration centres are already overwhelmed by massive crowds and weighed down by bureaucratic red tapism which not only slows and delays the registration processes but complicates the entire processes, exposing millions of citizens to inability to meet the deadline, then, liable to having their telephone lines blocked by the service providers.

However, the ultimate or grave consequences may not be the millions of citizens that may have their lines blocked; to them, it is a sheer return to the analogue age were telephone was not available to all citizens except few elites; but the telecoms services providers who may record reduction of telecom users of voice calls, sms and internet. A massive drop in patronage of telecom services, would degenerate into loss of jobs and enlargement of the unemployment market in Nigeria. Such consequences could extend to loss of revenue to the governments derived from taxes in the telecom industry.

Currently, there are lingering allegations of corruption of NIMC officials in the rush NIN registration across the states. Some frustrated citizens were alleged to offer between N7,000 to N4,000 to NIMC officials to be registered for the NIN without delay. In another instance, NIN is alleged to be sold at different allegedly sold at different prices by NIMC staff to people who can afford the money. The purported buyers may not need to visit the registration centre to provide their biodata but pay the cost and receive the NIN in the comfort of their home. This is a more dangerous subversion of what the federal government wants to achieve with the NIN linkage to telephone lines, particularly, in crime control and tracking. Invariably, the purportedly sold NIN may not bear the genuine biodata of the user’s physical identity.

Millions of citizens have continued to be stranded daily at the various NIN registration centres across the country, becoming more frustrated.