The Federal government has ordered the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC ) and the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC) to remove the 20 naira USSD fee imposed on subscribers for the retrieval of their National Identity Numbers (NIN).
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ibrahim Pantami gave the directive in Abuja on Friday.
It was learnt that the Minister’s directive which takes immediate effect, was aimed at making the process easier and affordable.
In a letter conveying the implementation of the directive, the Executive Vice Chairman NCC and the Director General of NIMC, informed Dr Pantami that the relevant authorities had met with, and negotiated a waiver with the Mobile Network Operators in that regard.
A statement by the Minister’s media aide, Uwa Suleiman noted that by the 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.”
Recall that the Federal Government had earlier directed that all National Identification Numbers be integrated with Subscriber Identification Modules for security purposes, Suleiman said.
She added that the Minister appreciates the efforts of all stakeholders and encourages them to continue to sacrifice more for national interest.