By Mene Prosper

Over 9.7 million subscribers of MTN and Airtel Nigeria have been barred from making outgoing calls over their inability to verify their National Identification Numbers (NIN).

The telecommunications companies in a recent earnings report as at September 30, 2022, pointed out that 16.2 million subscribers whose lines were barred had submitted their NINs for verification, but only 6.5 million had been verified during the period.

Recall in April over 72.77 million GSM lines were barred from making calls on their SIMs, following a directive from the Federal Government as regards subscribers that had not linked their SIMs and NINs.

The directive said President Muhammadu Buhari had approved the implementation of the policy with effect from April 4, 2022.

“Consequently, the Federal Government has directed all telcos to strictly enforce the policy on all SIMs issued (existing and new) in Nigeria,” it stated.

According to MTN and Airtel, the implementation of the policy has affected their revenue as 19 million and 13.6 million subscribers respectively were affected by the ban.