This is contained in a proposed draft regulation on
registration of telephone subscribers 2021 published on NCC’s website.
The federal government had asked Nigerians to enroll for NIN
and link their unique number to the phone lines.
Since the announcement in 2020, an extension of the deadline
for NIN registration and subscriber identity module (SIM) integration exercise
has taken place at least six times.
January 19, 2021 was the initial deadline, but it was moved
to February 9, April 6, May 6, June 30, July 26 and now October 31.
According to Section 19 of the draft document, NCC said
mobile communications services providers must ensure that NINs are verified and
validated before activation.
It said a penalty of N200,000 awaits those who breach the
requirement.
A similar penalty has been proposed for TELCOS that fail to
register subscribers with the central database as well as those who activate
subscriptions without appropriate registration of such subscribers.
“Any licensee who fails to capture, or who pre registers,
register, deregister or transmit the details of any individual or corporate
subscribers to the Central Database as specified in these Regulations or as may
be stipulated from time to time by the Commission is liable to a penalty of
N200,000.00 for each subscription medium.
“A licensee who activates any Subscription Medium without
capturing, registering and transmitting the personal information to the Central
Database commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine of
N200,000.00 for each unregistered activated Subscription Medium.
“A Licensee who fails to verify and validate biometric, NIN
and other personal information before activation is liable to a penalty of
N200, 000 for each subscription medium in breach of these requirements”, the
draft reads.