Federal Government has ordered all network providers to cancel N20 charge for the retrieval of National Identification Number (NIN) with immediate effect.
Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami gave the order in a statement issued on Friday.
He said;
The Minister’s directive which takes immediate effect is an intervention aimed at making the process easier and affordable.
In a letter conveying the implementation of the directive, the Executive Vice Chairman NCC and the Director-General of NIMC informed Dr Pantami that the relevant authorities had met with, and negotiated a waiver with the Mobile Network Operators in that regard.
The Minister added;
By this waiver, all Nigerians, subscribers and applicants can access the service using the *346# code for their NIN retrieval at no charge for the duration of the NIN/SIM Card integration exercise.
It would be recalled that few days ago, the Federal Government directed that all NIN should be synchronised with Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) cards for security purposes.
Read Also: NCC Gives MTN, Airtel, Others Two Weeks To Block SIM Cards Without NIN
FG ordered the network operators to ask all their subscribers to provide valid NIN to update their records and suspend SIM registration or risk being blocked in two weeks.
The development sparked diverse reactions from Nigerians who questioned the rationale behind the short notice, insisting the time frame was short.
Following the outrage, House of Representatives called on National Communications Commission (NCC) to extend December 31 deadline by 10 weeks in order to ensure participation of many Nigerians.
Read Also: Reps Ask NCC To Extend Two-Week Deadline On Blocking SIM Cards Without NIN
The motion was moved on Wednesday during plenary by the House Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu.
According to the lawmaker, two weeks is too short for 200 million Nigerians to conclude the process.
The House lauded the intention of NCC, for security reasons but wants the process to be extended to 10 weeks, considering the difficulty experienced by Nigerians in attaining NIN.
Read Also: FG Reveals Approved NIN Enrolment Centres Nationwide (Full List)
Another concern raised by many Nigerians was the N20 charge which was deducted to retrieve already existing NIN of some SIM card users.
Many alleged it was an avenue to extort struggling Nigerians as N20 charge from at least 100 million residents of the country would amount N200 million.
The charge has now been canceled following the concerns raised.
