A total of about 143 million Subscriber Identification Modules are now identifiable to the National Identity Management Commission for registration with their respective National Identity Numbers, telecommunications operators said on Wednesday.
Mobile operators also explained that the number of subscribers without NINs was about 21 million, as the deadline for the registration of SIMs with valid NINs draws near.
Speaking on behalf of the firms, the Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, told our correspondent that the number of NINs submitted by the telecoms sector to NIMC was for about 143 million SIMs.
The Federal Government through the Nigerian Communications Commission had announced on Tuesday that so far a total of 47.8 million NINs had been collected by the mobile operators.
Asked to state the number of subscribers without NINs, Adebayo replied that the figure was around 21 million.
Adebayo said the telcos hoped that more subscribers would be able to get their NINs, submit the identity numbers to mobile operators and have them forwarded to NIMC before the February 9, 2021 deadline.
