Nigerians who intend to use the National Identification Number gotten during Bank Verification Number registration have been told it will not be accepted.

 The National Identity Management Commission made the clarification on Tuesday, saying that the only way it will be accepted is if it is updated at the NIMC enrollment Center. NIMC made this known via its Twitter handle on Tuesday.

 The commission made the clarification amid confusion caused by the use of shortcodes to generate the NIN. Some Nigerians had claimed that they had not visited any NIMC enrollment centre, they got a NIN after their BVN registration. But MIMC urged the Nigerians to ensure that they go to any NIMC enrolment centre for an update. 

The tweet read, “NIN generated by the BVN can only be used after it has been updated at the NIMC enrollment Center. You must complete your NIN registration even if your BVN has generated a NIN.“If your NIN was generated due to BVN record harmonisation with the National Identity Database, you will not have access to the NIMC mobile APP and your NIN-SIM integration will be invalid.

“KIndly visit an enrollment centre to complete your NIN.” The PUNCH reports that the Federal Government had declared on December 15, 2020, that after December 30, 2020, all SIMs that were not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked. But on Monday, December 21, 2020, it extended the December 30, 2020 deadline following widespread opposition against the earlier announcement. The government gave three weeks’ extension for subscribers with NIN from December 30, 2020, to January 19, 2021. 

It also gave six weeks’ extension for subscribers without NIN from December 30, 2020, to February 9, 2021. According to the NIMC, as of October, the total number of mobile network connections was 207.58 million, but currently, only 43 million Nigerians have NIN, thus 164 million telephone users are at the risk of being deactivated on December 31