About 51.3 million unique telecommunication devices are not registered with the National Identification Numbers.
This is according to the Nigeria Communications Commission in its document, titled, ‘Deployment of a Device Management System: Project Information Memorandum,’ Nigeria had about 132 million unique devices connected to telecommunication networks in 2020.
It said, “With more than 200 million active lines on the Nigerian telecommunication network (as of December 2021), there is great potential for the development of a DMS in the Nigerian market.
“It is estimated that there were approximately 132 million unique devices on the telecommunication network in 2020.”
The Nigeria Identity Management Commission enrolment dashboard for April 2022, showed 80.7 million people had NINs as of April 23, 2022. This leaves 51.3 million device owners without NINs.
At numerous times, the NCC and NIMC have described Nigeria as a multi-SIM nation. They had explained that a unique NIN could have as much as an average of three to four SIMs.
According to the GSMA, the global organisation representing telecom operators, there were at least 97.5 million unique mobile subscribers in Nigeria as of September 2018.