FG says issuance of New SIM Cards to resume on April 19

The Federal Government on Thursday said the issuance of new SIM cards will resume on April 19, “as long as verification is done and the guidelines are fully adhered to.”

The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy communicated this in a statement signed by Femi Ademiluyi, a techncal aide to Minister Isa Pantami.

“Significant progress has been made in the NIN registration process across the country. Nonetheless, the Federal Government is committed to supporting all Nigerians and legal residents to obtain a NIN. The biometric verification process has been slower than anticipated, owing largely to the non-adherence of many previous SIM biometric capture processes to the NIMC standards. The Revised Policy will ensure that operators conform to the required standards for biometric capture.

“The implementation of the Policy will commence on Monday, 19th of April 2021. The issuance of New SIMs and other suspended activities will resume on the same date, as long as verification is done and the guidelines are fully adhered to. The Honourable Minister has also directed NCC and NIMC to ensure that the provisions of the Policy are strictly followed by all operators and subscribers.”

The government suspended the activity in December 2020 as it embarked on an audit of the Subscriber Registration Database.

The Communications Ministry said at the time that the audit exercise was important in order to verify and ensure compliance by Mobile Network Operators with set quality standards and requirements of SIM Card Registration.

The resumption of the new SIM cards issuance comes as the country is set to implement a Revised National Digital Identity Policy for SIM Card Registration.