The ongoing National Identification Number and Subscriber Identity Module integration exercise has been extended by eight weeks, the Federal Government announced on Tuesday morning.

The new deadline is  April 6, 2021.

This was contained in a statement signed by spokespersons of the Nigerian Communications Commission and the ​Nigeria Identity Management Commission.

According to the statement, which was dated February 1, the extension was approved by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami.

The statement said the extension is to give Nigerians and legal residents more time to integrate their NIN with the SIM.

On December 15, 2020, the Federal Government declared that after December 30, 2020, all SIMs that were not registered with valid NINs on the network of telecommunications companies would be blocked.