The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to remove the N20 fee imposed on subscribers for NIN retrieval requests.
Mr Pantami said this in a statement signed by his spokesperson, Uwa Suleiman, on Friday in Abuja.
The minister’s directive, which the spokesperson said took immediate effect, was an intervention aimed at making the process easier and affordable.
He said that the Executive Vice-Chairman of NCC and the Director-General of NIMC, informed him in a letter conveying the implementation of the directive, that the relevant authorities had met 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,” he said.
The Federal Government had earlier directed that National Identification Numbers (NIN) be integrated with SIMs for security purposes.
The Minister appreciated the efforts of all stakeholders and encouraged them to continue sacrificing more for national interest. (NAN)