Over 66,000 subscribers must complete a mandatory biometric verification by December 31, 2025, or their service will be suspended.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) first issued the requirement in August 2025, expanding its subscriber-verification framework from mobile networks to satellite internet providers. 

According to an NCC spokesperson, the directive was communicated in a letter dated August 19, 2025, initially giving users three months to comply. An extension moved the final deadline to the end of this year.

Starlink confirmed the update requirement in an email to customers on December 29, noting that the verification “takes less than two minutes.” The company warned that users who miss the deadline may face suspension. 

Reactivation will depend on network capacity in each location, meaning some subscribers could permanently lose access if their area is already at capacity.

A Starlink employee, speaking anonymously, explained the process: users must upload a headshot, provide their National Identification Number (NIN), and consent to link the information to their account.

Capacity is already an issue in urban hotspots. In Lagos, districts such as Victoria Island, Ikoyi, Lekki, Surulere, Lagos Island, and Ikeja frequently show as “sold out” on Starlink’s availability checker. Abuja faces a similar situation, with several districts accepting only waitlist deposits for new users.

This aligns with the NCC’s NIN–SIM linkage programme for mobile operators, first rolled out in 2020. That initiative required all SIM cards to be tied to a verified NIN, including facial and fingerprint data, in partnership with the National Identity Management Commission (NIMC). 

By September 14, 2024, mobile operators were ordered to bar any unverified lines. The NCC later reported 96% compliance, with over 153 million SIMs successfully linked.

The NCC says the biometric verification strengthens national security, improves fraud prevention, and ensures the reliability of Nigeria’s subscriber database. Linking satellite accounts to NINs also prevents anonymous usage and aligns with the country’s broader digital identity strategy.

Starlink’s speedy growth in Nigeria, its largest African market since launching in 2023, makes compliance essential. Regulators in other countries, such as India and Kenya, have introduced similar ID verification requirements for telecom services.

For Starlink Nigeria users who miss the deadline, the consequences, especially with many urban areas already oversubscribed, may be difficult.

During this special preview period, anyone with an Apple ID can stream its interesting catalogue of original films and series on any device that supports the Apple TV+ app.

The platform’s New Year promotion gives viewers the chance to enjoy acclaimed shows like The Morning Show, Ted Lasso, Silo, and Severance, alongside newly released seasons of Shrinking and Bad Sisters. 

Apple TV+ also offers a variety of genres, including family-friendly films such as Fly Me to the Moon, gripping dramas like Disclaimer, and action-packed features including Wolfs and The Instigators.

The streaming service, which is available on devices ranging from iPhones and iPads to PlayStation and Xbox consoles, hopes this free weekend will attract new subscribers. 

The platform typically costs $9.99 per month and includes a seven-day free trial for first-time users. Again, those purchasing new Apple devices are eligible for three months of free access.

This initiative is Apple’s first global event of its kind, showcasing its award-winning content to the world. For more details on how to participate, visit the website or check your device’s Apple TV app.

Tinubu, in his New Year address to Nigerians, stated that Nigerians are frustrated because of the removal of fuel subsidy and Naira devaluation.

Here are thirteen key takeaways from Tinubu’s address to the nation:

1. My actions are in the best interest of Nigeria

“Everything I have done in office, every decision I have taken and every trip I have undertaken outside the shores of our land, since I assumed office on 29 May 2023, have been done in the best interest of our country”.

2. Removal of fuel subsidy

“Over the past seven months of our administration, I have taken some difficult and yet necessary decisions to save our country from fiscal catastrophe. One of those decisions was the removal of fuel subsidy which had become an unsustainable financial burden on our country for more than four decades”.

3. Tough times never last

“Dear Compatriots, take this from me: the time may be rough and tough, however, our spirit must remain unbowed because tough times never last. We are made for this period, never to flinch, never to falter.

“The socio-economic challenges of today should energize and rekindle our love and faith in the promise of Nigeria. Our current circumstances should make us resolve to work better for the good of our beloved nation. Our situation should make us resolve that this new year 2024, each and everyone of us will commit to be better citizens”.

4. Reliable electricity supply 

“Just this past December during COP28 in Dubai, the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, and I agreed and committed to a new deal to speed up the delivery of the Siemens Energy power project that will ultimately deliver reliable supply of electricity to our homes and businesses under the Presidential Power Initiative which began in 2018.

“Other power installation projects to strengthen the reliability of our transmission lines and optimise the integrity of our National grid are ongoing across the country”.

5. Local refining of petroleum product

“My administration recognises that no meaningful economic transformation can happen without steady electricity supply. In 2024, we are moving a step further in our quest to restart local refining of petroleum products with Port Harcourt Refinery, and the Dangote Refinery which shall fully come on stream”.

6. Agriculture

“To ensure constant food supply, security and affordability, we will step up our plan to cultivate 500,000 hectares of farmlands across the country to grow maize, rice, wheat, millet and other staple crops. We launched the dry season farming with 120,000 hectares of land in Jigawa State last November under our National Wheat Development Programme.

“In this new year, we will race against time to ensure all the fiscal and tax policies reforms we need to put in place are codified and simplified to ensure the business environment does not destroy value.

“On every foreign trip I have embarked on, my message to investors and other business people has been the same. Nigeria is ready and open for business”.

7. Business competitiveness

“I will fight every obstacle that impedes business competitiveness in Nigeria and I will not hesitate to remove any clog hindering our path to making Nigeria a destination of choice for local and foreign investments”.

8. New national living wage

“We will work diligently to make sure every Nigerian feels the impact of their government. The economic aspirations and the material well-being of the poor, the most vulnerable and the working people shall not be neglected.

“It is in this spirit that we are going to implement a new national living wage for our industrious workers this new year. It is not only good economics to do this, it is also a morally and politically correct thing to do”.

9. No room for poor performance

“I took an oath to serve this country and give my best at all times. Like I said in the past, no excuse for poor performance from any of my appointees will be good enough. It is the reason I put in place a Policy Coordination, Evaluation, Monitoring and Delivery Unit in the Presidency to make sure that governance output improves the living condition of our people.

“We have set the parameters for evaluation. Within the first quarter of this new year, Ministers and Heads of Agencies with a future in this administration that I lead will continue to show themselves”.

10. Equal opportunity

“Fellow Nigerians, my major ambition in government as a Senator in the aborted Third Republic, as Governor of Lagos State for eight years and now as the President of this blessed country is to build a fair and equitable society and close the widening inequality.

“While I believe the rich should enjoy their legitimately-earned wealth, our minimum bargain must be that, any Nigerian that works hard and diligent enough will have a chance to get ahead in life. I must add that because God didn’t create us with equal talents and strengths, I cannot guarantee that we will have equal outcomes when we work hard. But my government, in this new year 2024 and beyond, will work to give every Nigerian equal opportunity to strive and to thrive”.

11. Collective efforts

“For the new year to yield all its good benefits to us as individuals and collectively as a people we must be prepared to play our part.

“The job of building a prosperous nation is not the job of the President, Governors, Ministers, Lawmakers and government officials alone. Our destinies are connected as members of this household of Nigeria.

“Our language, creed, ethnicity and religious beliefs even when they are not same should never make us work at cross purposes”.

12. Election is over

“In this new year, let us resolve that as joint-heirs to the Nigerian Commonwealth, we will work for the peace, progress and stability of our country. I extend this call to my political opponents in the last election. Election is over. It’s time for all of us to work together for the sake of our country”.

13. Lit each other’s candle

“We must let the light each of us carries – men and women, young and old – shine bright and brighter to illuminate our path to a glorious dawn”.