The ongoing National Identification Number and Subscriber Identity Module integration exercise has been extended by eight weeks , the Federal Government announced .

It said the new deadline was now April 6 , 2021 .

Director , Public Affairs , Nigerian Communications Commission , Ikechukwu Adinde , who disclosed this in a WhatsApp message to news correspondent , said the extension was conveyed by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy , Isa Pantami .

Pantami conveyed the message during the meeting of the Ministerial Taskforce on NIN – SIM registration which held on the 1 st of February , 2021 .

On December 15 , 2020 , the Federal Government declared that after December 30 , 2020 , all SIMs that were not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked .

It later extended the December 30 , 2020 deadline following widespread opposition against the earlier announcement and gave three weeks ’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30 , 2020 to January 19 , 2021 .

It also gave six weeks ’ extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30 , 2020 to February 9 , 2021 , but many organisations had called for further deadline extension or outright suspension of the NIN registration process .

Punch