CEM REPORT | The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has debunked a fake link (https://bit.ly/NCC-Sim-Unbar-Gov-Ng) being circulated on social media and on some websites said to have been released by the Commission to unblock SIM without NIN linkage.
In a press release Monday, NCC said the link and accompanying narrative represent patent misinformation and disinformation certainly designed to mislead the general public about the SIM cards that are barred from making calls, due to non-linkage with NIN at the set deadline.
NCC said the misleading, viral message mischievously displays NCC logo and ostensibly promises members of the public that, by clicking the web link and following further instructions in that regard, subscribers with barred SIM cards can unbar such SIMs across mobile networks without a valid NIN.
To this end, NCC has stated categorically that it never issued such statement, directing subscribers or indicating that subscribers can unbar their SIM without a NIN. As such, the originators and peddlers of the spurious message were out to mischievously mislead unsuspecting members of public.
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The Commission therefore asked the general public to disregard the message.
The commission also officially inform telecoms consumers, whose Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards are barred from making calls, that affected SIMs will not be unbarred by the service providers until they are linked with the National Identification Numbers (NINs) of the SIM holders.
The NCC is the national regulatory authority for telecommunications in Nigeria, and it is co-driving the process of the NIN-SIM linkage with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as directed by the Federal Government.
NCC said it will not, under any circumstance, act contrary to Federal Government’s directive to MNOs to bar SIMs cards not linked to NINs at the expiration of the last deadline given for the NIN-SIM linkage exercise.
NCC further said; “Having disclaimed the false viral message, the Commission wishes to officially inform affected telecom subscribers on how they can get their SIMs actively connected to make calls.
“First, for subscribers that have not registered for their NIN, what to do is to get their SIM registered at accredited centres across the country and then link the NIN with their SIM cards through channels provided by their service providers.”
