The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Tuesday said over 47 million Nigerians have registered for the National Identity Numbers (NINs).

NCC Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Ikechukwu Adinde, who disclosed this in a statement, said the figures represented the statistics collected by telecommunication mobile operators.

Adinde is optimistic that many more Nigerians would be linked up before the deadline for the exercise in February.

“So far a total of 47.8 million NINs have been collected by the mobile operators. At an average of 3 to 4 SIMs per subscriber, this means many millions will be linked up before the deadline in February 2021,” the statement partly read.

“At the end of a review meeting on 18th January 2021, the Technical Implementation Committee under the Ministerial Task Force has reported significant progress in the ongoing NIN-SIM linkage exercise.”

Reacting to the report, the NCC spokesman said the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, expressed satisfaction with this commendable achievement.

He was said to have expressed the Federal Government’s appreciation for “the commitment demonstrated by all stakeholders and citizens and urged them to submit their NINs before 9th February 2021 deadline.

“The Minister urged the technical team to fast-track the processes so that the project is delivered soonest.

“The Technical Committee drew attention to the App developed by FGN which allows subscribers to link up to a maximum of seven (7) SIMs to their NIN.

“The Minister concluded by reminding Nigerians to secure and protect their NINs, urging subscribers to desist from selling their NINs or allowing others to use their NINs for registration. “For any act committed with the SIM good or bad it will be officially traced and attached to the NIN owner,” the Minister warned.