Nigerians who haven't integrated their phone numbers with their National Identity Numbers (NIN), now have up till July 26, 2021 to do so.

In a joint statement issued by the Director, Public Affairs of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Ikechukwu Adinde; and the Head, Corporate Communications, Nigeria Identity Management Commission (NIMC), Kayode Adegoke, the federal government says the decision to further extend the deadline was reached following pleas from stakeholders.

“The decision to extend the deadline was made after a request by stakeholders on the need to consolidate the enrolment and NIN-SIM verification process following the rapid increase in the number of enrolment systems across the country. 

“As at June 28, 2021, a total of 5,410 enrolment systems are now available across the country and this would significantly ease the NIN enrolment process and subsequent linkage of NIN to SIM.  

"It is worthy of note that there were only about 800 such enrolment systems as at December 2020.

“The federal government has approved the extension as part of its efforts to make it easier for its citizens and residents to obtain the NIN and it is important to take advantage of the extension," the statement reads.

The statement adds that there are now 57.3 million unique NIN enrolments, with average of 3 to 4 SIMs per NIN. 

Previous deadlines handed to Nigerians to link their SIMs with their NINs or lose their phone numbers were December 30, 2020; January 19, 2021; February 9, 2021; April 6, 2021; and June 30, 2021.