The Federal Government, through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has insisted that millions of mobile telephone lines barred by telecom operators last week will only be unblocked when owners link their National Identity Numbers (NINs).
According to a statement on Tuesday by the commission, the reiteration has become necessary due to a viral web link (https://bit.ly/NCC-Sim-Unbar-Gov-Ng) being circulated on social media and some websites.
The statement said, “The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) wishes to officially inform telecoms consumers, whose Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards are barred from making calls, that affected SIMs will not be unbarred by the service providers until they are linked with the National Identification Numbers (NINs) of the SIM holders.
NCC said the information provided by the link is designed to mislead the general public, maintaining that it did not emanate in any way from the commission.
It said, “The misleading, viral message mischievously displays NCC logo and ostensibly promises members of the public that by clicking the web link and following further instructions in that regard, subscribers with barred SIM cards can unbar such SIMs across mobile networks without a valid NIN.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the NCC wishes to state categorically that it never issued such statement, directing subscribers or indicating that subscribers can unbar their SIM without a NIN. As such, the originators and peddlers of the spurious message were out to mischievously mislead unsuspecting members of the public and should therefore be disregarded in its entirety.”
It added, “The NCC, therefore, uses this opportunity to reiterate its commitment to the Federal Government’s directive on the NIN-SIM link to among others, strengthen security situation in the country, assist in other socio-economic planning activities of the government as well as to always advance the course of consumer protection from falling victim to the antics of cyber fraudsters.”