The National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) has appealed to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for an extension of the NIN-SIM Linkage deadline from Sept. 14 to Sept. 30.
The National President, NATCOMS, Mr Deolu Ogunbanjo, said in an interview on Sunday that it desired an extension due to the challenges of the National Identity Management Commission’s (NIMC) portal.
The NCC had set a deadline of Sept. 14, 2024, for all mobile users to link their SIMs to their National Identification Number (NIN).
The NCC emphasised the importance of the NIN-SIM linkage for improving digital security and reducing fraud and cybercrime.
Ogunbanjo said it needed the two-week extension for the NIMC to increase the capacity of its portal, adding that telecoms operators at the customer centres usually struggled to upload on the NIMC portal.
He said that difficulty to upload on the NIMC portal had frustrated the process and caused delay.
“As I visited the customer centres of Airtel and MTN, I witnessed firsthand the struggles they faced in uploading data to NIMC portal.
“The congestion was palpable, and the slow pace of uploads was frustrating.
“It was clear that the NIMC portal lacked the capacity to handle the surge in uploads, causing undue stress for telecom operators and their subscribers.
“I am appealing to the NCC to grant an extension of the deadline to Sept. 30, to allow more time for NIMC to expand its portal capacity.
Ogunbanjo said that this would alleviate the current difficulties, and ensure a smoother experience for all stakeholders.
Checks at some customer centres, a food vendor, Mrs Zainab Olajide, said that though the process of linking and unbarring her SIM was seamless, the operators of the centre, however, demanded N1,000 before attending to her.
Olajide said that failure to pay the money meant that the customer would not be attended to, adding that the agents at the centre took advantage of the situation due to the crowd.
She said that though she got to the centre at 10 a.m., her number was 282, pleading that an extension of the deadline would enable more people to get back online.
Also, a Consultant, Mr Clement Umeadi, also decried the extortion that took place at his customer centre at Alagbado.
Umeadi said that the most annoying for him was paying N2000 to unblock his two barred lines.
He stressed that the NIN-SIM linkage should be a continuous process with no set deadline, saying that such deadlines encouraged unwholesome practices.
Also, at a customer centre in Opebi, an Accountant, Josh Manuel, said the registration process was seamless, adding that despite the crowd, there was orderliness and effective management.
He said that the agents were professional in handling the process and no money was demanded.
“I was forced to appreciate the staff I met, especially, the security for their professionalism in handling the crowd,’’ he said.
A staff of the customer centre, who preferred to remain anonymous, said that the turnover of subscribers to adhere to the deadline was impressive.
She said that, prior to the present extension, subscribers were in the habit of rushing at the last minute, but that was not the case at the centre.
A Teacher, Mrs Olushola Oke, lamented the slow pace of uploads at a customer centre in Ogba.
Oke said that the crowd at the centre was as a result of the slow pace of work, which was frustrating.
According to her, it was after her third early morning visit to the centre that her line was unbarred.
She, however, called for an extension of the exercise to enable more people to have their lines unbarred, especially those who had faced a similar experience of the slow pace of work.
An agent at the customer centre, Ogba, Mr Quadri Adegoke, said that verification on the National Identity Management Commission’s (NIMC) was not encouraging.
Adegoke said it had slowed the pace of work and made the whole process frustrating.
He said that it was hard to determine whether the slow uploads were as a result of the ongoing construction work in the area that might have tampered with the network or the traffic on NIMC’s website.
