The Nigerian telecoms regulator has warned of a “misleading” message targeting phone users that were barred from making calls under the NIN-SIM integration scheme.
President Muhammadu Buhari this month ordered telcos to bar customers that are yet to comply with the mandatory phone subscriber identification that requires each user to link their National Identification Numbers (NINs) and their Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card information.
When the receive-only order came into force, a viral link emerged on social media, promising subscribers that they could unbar their SIM without a NIN, according to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC Public Affairs Director, says that the viral web link circulated on social media and on some websites “and accompanying narrative represent patent misinformation and disinformation certainly designed to mislead the general public about the SIM cards that are barred from making calls, due to non-linkage with NIN at the set deadline.”
NCC on NIN-SIM Scam Message
The misleading viral message, Adinde says, “mischievously displays the NCC logo and ostensibly promises members of the public that, by clicking the web link and following further instructions in that regard, subscribers with barred SIM cards can unbar such SIMs across mobile networks without a valid NIN.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the NCC wishes to state categorically that it never issued such statement, directing subscribers or indicating that subscribers can unbar their SIM without a NIN. As such, the originators and peddlers of the spurious message were out to mischievously mislead unsuspecting members of the public. Therefore, their message should be disregarded.”
According to its Public Affairs Director, “the NCC is the national regulatory authority for telecommunications in Nigeria, and it is co-driving the process of the NIN-SIM linkage with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as directed by the Federal Government.
“The Commission will not, under any circumstance, act contrary to Federal Government’s directive to MNOs to bar SIMs cards not linked to NINs at the expiration of the last deadline given for the NIN-SIM linkage exercise.”
For affected phone users to make calls, Adinde explains that they need to meet certain conditions to get their SIMs actively connected to their respective networks.
First, for subscribers that have not registered for their NIN, what to do is to get their SIM registered at accredited centres across the country and then link the NIN with their SIM cards through channels provided by their service providers, he says.
Secondly, for subscribers with registered NINs, what to do is to simply go and link the NIN with their SIMs through channels provided by their service providers.
The NCC, Adinde says ”uses this opportunity to reiterate its commitment to the Federal Government’s directive on the NIN-SIM Linkage to among others, strengthen security situation in the country, assist in other socio-economic planning activities of the government, as well as to always advance the course of consumer protection from falling victim to the antics of cyber fraudsters.”
According to the regulator’s spokesman, “the NCC wishes to also inform the general public that it is not recruiting at the moment.
“Accordingly, the advertisement indicating there is ongoing recruitment at NCC, which is circulating on Twitter, and through polymediation, may have been diffused to other social media networks, is a scam and should be disregarded.”
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