Nigeria has repeated its demand for telecom companies to bar calls from unregistered phone lines, part of the government’s policy to boost security amid an insurgency and a spate of kidnappings.
The country’s telecoms regulator had in December 2020 ordered mobile phone providers to add identification numbers (NINs) – containing personal data identifying the user – to every SIM card registered in the country or block the SIMs.
Communication Minister Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami said in a statement outgoing calls were being banned from April 4 from any mobile phone numbers that had not complied with the NIN-SIM linkage policy.
Pantami said 125 million SIMs had been linked to the relevant NINs, which is a precondition for accessing telecoms services as well as banking, immigration and other government services.