The Nigerian Communications Commission and the National Identity Management Commission have been ordered to remove the fee imposed on subscribers for National Identification Number retrieval requests.
NIMC USSD service to retrieve NIN usually attract N20 fee which will be deducted from the phone credit balance after dialing *346*
However, a statement from the office of The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, stated that the fee was cancelled to make linking phone lines to NIN easier.
The statement titled, ‘Pantami Orders Cancellation Of NIN Retrieval Charge Across All Networks’, partly read, “The Minister’s directive which takes immediate effect, is an intervention aimed at making the process easier and affordable.
“In a letter conveying the implementation of the directive, the Executive Vice Chairman NCC and the Director-General of NIMC informed Dr Pantami that the relevant authorities had met with, and negotiated a waiver with the Mobile Network Operators in that regard.
“By this waiver, all Nigerians, subscribers, and applicants can access the service using the *346# code for their NIN retrieval at no charge for the duration of the NIN/SIM Card integration exercise.”
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had given telecommunications operators in the country two weeks to block all SIM cards that are not registered with the National Identity Numbers (NIN).
Failure to do so will lead to phone lines being blocked or disconnected by the 31st of December 2020.