The National Association of Telecommunications Subscribers (NATCOMS) via its president Adeolu Ogunbanjo said on Wednesday that a one-month extension for the National Identification Number (NIN) registration by the federal government is not enough to capture all Nigerians.

The federal government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had in December 2020 directed telecommunication subscribers to obtain their NIN and link them with Subscribers Identification Module (SIM) cards.

The NCC had earlier announced April 6 as the deadline for Nigerians to link their NINs to their SIM cards, but the exercise was extended to May 6.

Mr Ogunbanjo, however, noted that a one-month extension of the exercise would not be sufficient to capture the over 200 million subscribers in the country.

“Only 51 million linkages have been done so far, and that is on the average consumer having three SIM cards per person, meaning that about 17 million to 18 million Nigerians have actually done their NIN links.

“We have about 120 million subscribers with about 220 million linkages to be done. We have only done 51 million at the centres, and they are very slow due to poor connectivity from network operators.

“So we are saying extend it to December 31 to enable everybody to register and all documents such as drivers’ license and bank accounts will now be linked appropriately,” Mr Ogunbanjo said.

He, however, advised all subscribers to link up their SIMs and other documents to avoid being sanctioned.