NIN registration hits 82.7m as telcos woo affected subscribers with promo

A’Ibom, Imo, 8 other states rank lowest in identification
National Identification Number (NIN) issued by the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) rose from 80 million in April to 82.7 million in May.

Statistics from NIMC revealed this and ranked Lagos ahead of other states with 9.48 million. Other states within the higher numbers are Kano 6.9 million; Kaduna 4.9 million; Ogun 3.4 million; Oyo 3.3 million; FCT 3 million; Katsina 2.6 million; Rivers 2.5 million; Delta 2.2 million and Niger 2.1 million.

The identity body said 46.5 million NINs have been collected by men, while the women folks had 31.2 million as at May.

According to NIMC, the last 10 states with lowest NIN issued are Akwa Ibom 1.46 million; Imo 1.4 million; Enugu 1.36 million; Zamfara 1.3 million; Yobe 1.2 million; Taraba 1.2 million; Cross River 935,544; Ekiti 915,982; Ebonyi 670,403 and Bayelsa 541,516. Diaspora issued NIN hits 176,892, where 98,762 were issued to men and 78,133 to women.

Regionally, North West has 25.68 per cent; South West 24.9 per cent; North Central 16.7 per cent; North East 12.31 per cent and South East 6.48 per cent.

MEANWHILE, to bring back those whose telephone lines were blocked, following the directive by the Federal Government in April, which mandated the telecoms operators to bar outgoing calls from telephone lines not linked, telecoms operators are wooing subscribers with new promo.

About 75 million lines were affected by the April directive, and it later appeared that after making several efforts to re-link the lines, some subscribers experienced various forms of difficulties and had subsequently dropped some of the lines.

In May, MTN claimed that some 19 million subscribers were affected, while Airtel Nigeria, said that only 35.9 million out of its 44.4 million active customers had linked their NIN with their SIMs as of the end of April. It subsequently means that 8.5 million customers of the telco were yet to comply and have been placed on ‘receive only’.

Recognising the fact that every single line blocked would amount to revenue loss, the telcos have device means targeted at wooing back the affected subscribers.

For instance, Globacom has introduced ‘Glo NIN Offer.’ Commenting on the launch of the adverts, the company noted that the “Glo NIN Offer is a one-time bonus offer applicable only to customers who were barred from making outgoing calls on the Glo network as directed by regulatory authorities due to NIN non-compliance.”

Once subscribers link their NIN to their SIMS, they will get a N20,000 bonus which can be used to call, browse and text on the network.

Also, Airtel has called on affected subscribers to re-link their lines and get N20,000 free airtime and data credit.