The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it wishes to 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 (NIN) of the SIM holders.

The Commission said that this information has become necessary in view of a viral weblink (https://bit.ly/NCC-Sim-Unbar-Gov-Ng) being circulated on social media and on some websites.

The link and accompanying narrative are said to 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.

The misleading, viral message mischievously displays the 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.

For the avoidance of doubt, the NCC said it wishes to state categorically that it never issued such a statement, directing subscribers or indicating that subscribers can unbar their SIM without a NIN.

As such, the Commission said the originators and peddlers of the spurious message were out to mischievously mislead unsuspecting members of the public. Therefore, their message should be disregarded.

The NCC pointed to the fact that it is the national regulatory authority for telecommunications in Nigeria, and is co-driving the process of the NIN-SIM linkage with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) as directed by the Federal Government.

The Commission 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.

Having disclaimed the false viral message, the Commission said it 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.

Secondly, for subscribers with registered NINs, what to do is simply go and link the NIN with their SIMs through channels provided by their service providers.

The NCC, therefore, uses this opportunity to reiterate its commitment to the Federal Government’s directive on the NIN-SIM Linkage to among others, strengthen the security situation in the country, assist in other socio-economic planning activities of the government, as well as to always advance the course of consumer protection from falling victim to the antics of cyber fraudsters.

Finally, the NCC also inform the general public that it is not recruiting at the moment.

Accordingly, the advertisement indicating there is ongoing recruitment at NCC, which is circulating on Twitter, and through polymediation, may have been diffused to other social media networks, is a scam and should be disregarded.