SIM Cards Disconnection: Applicants to pay N15,000 for correction of dates of birth – NIMC reveals
Following the Federal Government of Nigeria policy to link subscribers’ NIN to their SIM, the Nigerian government under the agency of the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) has said correction of details in the National Identity Number (NIN) will attract varying charges.
NIMC Regional Coordinator, Funmi Opesanwo, stated this on Wednesday at the commission’s office in the Alausa area of Lagos State.
NIMC Coordinator revealed that the National Identification Number holders are required to pay N15,000 to correct their dates of birth in the commission’s database.
According to her, NIN holders are also required to pay a processing fee of N5,000 for card renewal or card replacement as well as an address modification fee of N500.
She said there are different services that the commission offers, noting that NIN enrolment is free but there are fees attached to card renewal, correction of date of birth, and change of address.
Opesanwo said, “For the date of birth correction, there is a processing fee of N15,000.
“For card renewal or card replacement, there is a processing fee of N5,000.
“For the modification of address or name, it is N500.
“So, people misconstrue this to mean that in NIMC they are asking them to pay money. No, those are for services.”
The NIMC official noted that the fees are payable to the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government. “For correction of date of birth, it is N15,000 and it is payable to the TSA,” she added.
Newsflash247 had earlier reported that the Federal Government through the Nigerian Communication Commission ordered telecommunications companies to deactivate telephone lines of subscribers who failed to link their phones to their National Identity Number.
The Federal Government said telcos subscribers with NIN have January 19 as deadline to link their NIN with their SIM cards while subscribers without NIN have until February 9 to do so.
But network subscribers have complained that telcos have started blocking their SIM cards before the deadlines approved by the government.
Consequently, large crowds resurfaced at the NIMC centres nationwide on Wednesday after the New Year break.
Speaking on the large crowds that resurfaced on Wednesday, Opesanwo said, “When we came this morning, a lot of applicants complained that their SIM (cards) have been blocked and that is why we are experiencing this large number today.
“We are trying to manage the situation. Applicants have been seated and they came in for different services, so, there is no problem.
“We have to be mindful of the safety protocols and we cannot exceed the number of people, the capacity that we can take, we have to adhere to the guidelines.”
As of October, the total number of mobile network connections was 207.58 million, but currently, only 43 million Nigerians have NIN, thus 164 million telephone users are at the risk of being deactivated.
Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) in December 2020 gave a two-week ultimatum to telecom service providers to block phone numbers without NIN.
The directive has since sparked an outrage amongst Nigerians who argue that government agencies can retrieve their information on other data platform to update their sim card registration.
Currently, Nigeria has multiple citizen’s collection data platforms – the Bank Verification Numbers (BVN), National Identification Numbers (NIN), passport, driver’s license, SIM card registration and voters’ card all having the same information of individuals.
The Nigerian government has said telecom service providers who fail to block SIM cards unregistered with NIN after the two-weeks risk withdrawal of their operational license.
“The submission of NIN by subscribers to take place within two weeks (from today December 16, 2020 and end by 30 December, 2020),” NCC spokesperson Ike Adinde said in a statement.
The ultimatum has since been extended by up to six weeks, from Dec. 30 to Feb. 9, 2021, and cancelled the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) charges for verification across the country.
Despite the extension, many Nigerians lament the strenuous procedure in trying to link their SIM cards to their NIN as well as those applying for fresh registration. This has led to the violation of COVID-19 protocols of social distancing as thousands continue to besiege registration centres in the country.
Opensanwo attributed the increase in applicants to telecommunication companies’ decision to block SIM cards of people whose NIN is not linked to their numbers.
“Yesterday we did not experience what we’re experiencing today,” Opensanwo said. “The fillers we got is that most of the applicants’ numbers were being blocked.”
She said the commission is “trying to manage the situation” of overcrowding at many of the registration centres.
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