NIN: Nigeria Barred 72 Million People From Making Calls

The Story
More than 72 million Nigerians found their mobile phone lines unable to make calls on Monday, after they were barred by telecommunication companies.

Were the subscribers notified before their lines were barred?
Some subscribers reported that they received notification. The telecoms companies acted in response to an order by the federal government to enforce compliance with its National Identification Number-Subscriber Identity Module policy by restricting outgoing calls on all lines that were yet to be linked to NIN, as the deadline for the verification expired in March.

Is this restricted to only outgoing calls?
Yes, at the moment. The directive was contained in a joint statement by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC). The affected phone lines, according to industry sources, would still be able to perform other functions, including to receive calls, send and receive text messages, and use the Internet, temporarily.

Temporarily?
Yes, temporarily. The affected subscribers have been urged to link their lines to their NINs before the lines are completely restricted. According to the NCC, there were 197.77 million active phone lines as of February 2022. Of this figure, 125 million subscribers have submitted their NINs for verification, leaving the 72.77 million barred lines.