Nigeria has given telecoms operators two weeks to block subscribers who fail to link their mobile SIM cards with national identity numbers.
Nigerians must have a national identity number as part of measures the government says will help tackle insecurity in the country and build a unified database.
The Nigerian Communications Commission in a statement late Tuesday directed operators to “require all their subscribers to provide a valid national identification number to update SIM registration records.”
The commission said the decision was taken by all with a stake in the question, including the telecommunications companies that serve 203 million subscribers.
It gave operators two weeks, from December 16 to December 30, to comply.
“After the deadline, all SIMs without national identification numbers are to be blocked from the networks,” it warned, adding that it would not hesitate to revoke licenses.
Industry analysts say the two-week deadline is not realistic.
“The timeline is too short. Although the government’s intention is to tackle insecurity which is a number one problem of Nigeria, they are doing it the wrong way,” Sola Oni of Sofunix Investment told AFP.
The telecoms companies need time to properly verify subscribers affected by the directive, he added.
The leading operators in Nigeria are South Africa’s giant MTN, Airtel, Etisalat and Global Communications.
In 2015, MTN was sanctioned after failing to disconnect 5.1 million subscribers — amid concerns the lines were being used by Boko Haram insurgents.
Africa’s biggest wireless operator was initially fined 3.2 billion euros ($3.9 billion) but after a series of negotiations, the fine was reduced to 1.2 billion.
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