BREAKING: Federal Government Again Extends Deadline For NIN-SIM Linkage

The Federal Government has extended the deadline for the ongoing National Identification Number (NIN) and Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) integration exercise by four weeks.

The new deadline is May 6, 2021.

The request for the extension was presented to President Muhammadu Buhari and he endorsed it, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami made it revealed in a statement on Friday.

Pantami who led the meeting of the Ministerial Task Force on the NIN-SIM data linkage on Thursday said the current number of monthly enrolments had increased significantly to about 2.6 million registrations.

“The meeting took place on Thursday, April 1, 2021 and an approval was given to extend the period of the NIN-SIM linkage to the 6th of May, 2021. The request for the extension was presented to President Muhammadu Buhari and he endorsed it,” the statement said.

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“The Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission addressed the meeting and stated that the NIN-SIM linkage would support the Federal Government in checkmating the activities of fraudsters and cybercriminals.”

January 19 was the initial deadline, but it was moved to February 9, later to April 6 and now May 6.

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There have been concerns regarding crowds converging on NIMC centres to enrol for NIN amid COVID-19 second wave. But the management of NIMC said it has put in place measures to check the surging of crowds.