The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has proposed a fine of N200,000 for telecommunications companies that fail to verify and validate biometric, National Identity Number (NIN) and other personal information of subscribers.
This is contained in a proposed draft regulation on registration of telephone subscribers 2021 published on NCC’s website.
The federal government had asked Nigerians to enrol for NIN and link their unique number to the phone lines.
Since the announcement in 2020, an extension of the deadline for NIN registration and subscriber identity module (SIM) integration exercise has taken place at least six times.
January 19, 2021 was the initial deadline, but it was moved to February 9, April 6, May 6, June 30, July 26 and now October 31.
Section 19 of the draft document, NCC said mobile communications services providers must ensure that NINs are verified and validated before activation.
It said a penalty of N200,000 awaits those who breach the requirement.
