Starting April 19 2021, you can walk into any Telecom provider office to buy and register new SIM card for your mobile phone in Nigeria. Following the suspension of new SIM registration as well as lost SIM recovery due to the NIN registration and Mobile line linking, the Federal Government of Nigeria has directed all Telecom service providers to continue registering new SIM cards as well as recovering lost SIM cards. However, you must have a National Identity Number NIN to be able to buy a new SIM or do SIM Welcome Back. By this new directive, all Telecom operators including MTN, Airtel, 9Mobile and GLO operating in Nigeria shall resume new SIM registration, old SIM Welcome Back, line recoveries and all other services that were formerly available. This is on the condition that the customer has got a verified NIN (National Identity Number). Therefore, from April 19, MTN, GLO, Airtel, 9Mobile in Nigeria resume SIM registration for new and Welcome Back customers who have got the NIN number only.
Is The NIN Registration Still On As Nigeria Resume New SIM Registration?
Yes…the National Identity Number NIN registration is still ongoing in all the many centres of thew NIMC nationwide. Although there has been many deadlines issued and extended, there is still no end of the NIN registration exercise in sight. However, DTMEDIA.tech advises all Nigerians to enroll for the NIN as early as possible. The process of getting a new SIM or recovering your old lost SIM INVOLVES INPUTTING YOUR nin NUMBER IN THE APPLICATION FORM. No Telecom operator would attend to you if you do not have your verified NIN. The process is still very much in progress.
The Issue of NIN with Bank Accounts
The Federal Government of Nigeria has also declared that the NIN would become compulsory for opening new bank accounts. Although this may not have been implemented yet, the Government has made it clear that this is her policy direction. Therefore, all Nigerians would be mandated to provide their NIN if they would operate any bank account in Nigeria. Therefore, as all Telecom operators in Nigeria resume new SIM registration on April 19 2021, the NIN registration is compulsory for all Nigerians.
How to Register and Get your NIN
I have extensively written a post on how you can register and get your NIN (National Identity Number). The processes have been made simple and efficient as well as convenient for all Nigerians. Furthermore, you would have to link your NIN to all mobile networks in Nigeria that you are using to avoid disconnection. Although no line has been disconnected as a result, the Government has warned that disconnections would;d become inevitable for lines that refuse to be linked to any NIN.
Therefore, both new SIM registration, new NIN registration and NIN linking would become simultaneously operational come April 19, 2021.
