The Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered that the deadline for linking the National Identity Number, NIN, to telephone lines be extended by two months.
Justice Maureen Onyetenu ordered the extension when he delivered the ruling in the fundamental right suit filed by a lawyer, Monday Ubani, who sued the federal government.
According to Ubani, the deadline given to service providers to block SIM cards yet to be linked with the NIN violated Nigerians’ constitutional rights.
He had earlier sought that the court extends the deadline, adding that the rush to register lines increased the chances of millions of Nigerians contracting COVID-19.
NIN Registration Deadline
Other parties joined to the matter were the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF, the Nigerian Communications Commission and the Minister of Communication and Digital Economic, Isa Pantami.
Meanwhile, this new extension is the fifth extension for the NIN-SIM integration deadline. You will recall that the National Identity Management Commission, NIMC extended the deadline from December 30 to January 19, then February 9, and another eight-week extension scheduled for April 6.
Everyevery.ng had reported that the federal government extended the NIN registration deadline by eight (8) weeks.
Speaking during a ministerial taskforce meeting on NIN and Subscriber Identity Module, SIM integration exercise, Isa Pantami said the government shifted the NIN registration to April 6 to give Nigerians more time to integrate their NIN with SIM.
