NCC orders reconnection of customers’ network after outcry

• Barring mobile not connected to planned protest – Telecom operators

Following public outcry, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed all mobile service operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend as the time duration given consumers to undertake the verification of their NINs with their SIMs was too short.

Customers had come on social media to complain about not being able to make calls with mobile phones, an indication that their lines were disconnected.

On Monday, Daily Trust observed that the main office of MTN in Maitama District of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) was crowded by Nigerians who wanted to ensure that their lines were reconnected.

The situation was similar in other MTN offices in the FCT and states of the federation as it was perceived to be a move by mobile communication operators to sabotage communication ahead of the national protest starting from August 1.

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Subsequently, the NCC, in a statement on Monday, said it took the decision because the consumer is its priority.

“Over the weekend, many telecom subscribers/consumers were unable to access their phone lines because of the inability of many telecom consumers to verify their National Identification Numbers (NINs) with their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs). This meant that their numbers were blocked by their telecom service providers in keeping with laws and policies of the NIN-SIM linkage

“Since December 2023, the commission has since reviewed the deadline a few times; April 15, 2024 was set as the deadline for the full network barring of subscribers with four or fewer SIMs that had unverified NIN details. This deadline was then reviewed to July 31, 2024, to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified. Despite these extensions, many phone lines are yet to be linked with verified NINS.

“The objectives of this exercise by the Federal Government of Nigeria include enhancing national security and ensuring the national SIM ownership database is accurate. The NIN-SIM linkage policy aids in verifying and protecting users’ identities while also providing a critical infrastructure that assures access to the benefits of a robust digital economy for the citizenry.

“The consumer is our priority, therefore, considering the challenges the blockages have caused, the commission has directed all operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend in view of the short time available for consumers to undertake the verification of their NINs with their SIMs. Reactivated consumers are to note that this is for a limited period to allow them to properly link their NIN to their SIM,” the NCC statement explained.

Subscribers besiege state offices

At the MTN office in Murtala, Kwara State, subscribers besieged the office over what some termed insensitivity of the network provider to their daily transactions and communications.

Speaking on the issue, an affected customer, Mallam Rabiu said the situation is highly provocative and destabilising.

“I couldn’t do anything on my phone and when I got here, the situation was just too terrible. They pay more attention to those who came to patronise them than those of us that came for unblocking of SIMs and it got to an extent that it almost degenerated to a chaos.

“They assigned just one attendant to over 50 of us in three queues and it got to a stage where they were putting down names of people to a certain number and telling others to come back the next day”.

On her part, Mrs Maryam, a teacher, said there was no prior information or text message from MTN to block their lines. She said the situation has been very annoying and demoralising.

Our correspondent observed that customers were not charged for the unblocking of their SIMs at the MTN office. However, some individuals who are into SIM registration were charging between N5,000 and above to unblock SIMs.

Similarly, a chaotic scene unfolded at the MTN office in Ibadan, Oyo State, on Monday as a large crowd of subscribers, whose phone lines were barred by the network, stormed the premises.

Eyewitnesses reported that some protesters turned violent, hurling stones at the building.

Affected individuals claimed that MTN’s action was a deliberate attempt to disrupt a planned nationwide anti-government protest scheduled for Thursday.

While the telecom company has debunked this allegation, the situation remains tense, with subscribers expressing frustration and anger over the sudden disconnection of their services.

Similarly in Kano, scores of MTN subscribers with barred SIM cards were shocked when they arrived at the MTN office located at Hadejia Road to lodge complaints.

The subscribers were told that the system the office would use to rectify their issues was also down, leaving them disappointed.

Mamman Nur a civil servant who accompanied his wife to the office to rectify her problem wondered why the telecommunications firm would block people’s line at this point in time

Some subscribers of the Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN) yesterday besieged the Gombe State office of the network, over the barring of their mobile phone lines.

Some of the affected persons who spoke to our correspondents complained that their lines were barred despite linking them with the NIN.

A subscriber, Yunusa Ahmadu who came from Balanga LGA of the state, said he came from Bambam town, a distance of almost 10 kilometres to reactivate his line in spite of linking his NIN with the MTN line.

Residents in Osun State who are MTN subscribers on Monday morning protested at its Dada estate office in Osogbo, the state capital.

The aggrieved customers stormed MTN office around 6 a.m to unblock their SIM cards and later became apprehensive and blocked the road leading to the Oke-Ifa axis.

Security operatives, especially DSS officials were later called in to calm the rising tension and stationed at the office.

At another MTN partner office at Fakunle, hundreds of customers were stranded there and were not attended to due to network glitch.

MTN officials declined to comment on the incident, saying that only their top officials at the MTN headquarters can speak with journalists.

In Kogi State, subscribers of MTN line trooped out in their hundreds to lay down their complaints over the blocked lines, but the officials of the communication outfit shut down their Lokoja office, the capital of Kogi State  for fear of imminent violence.

Daily Trust gathered that the victims of the MTN  line blocking started reporting at their office opposite police headquarters, Lokoja as early as 5am to lodge their complaint to the officials of the communication outfit .

As the number kept increasing, and for fear of imminent breakdown of law and order, the officials feigned poor network system and shut down their operation and locked their office immediately.

However, a subscriber told Daily Trust that  the management of the Lokoja chapter of the MTN later re-addressed few ones standing in their office that they should go back  home and expect their line unblocked before tomorrow morning, advising the victims to strive and link up their number with the NIN to avoid being blocked again.

Meanwhile, several subscribers had complained of their line being blocked despite that they had since linked it to the NIN for years, and there is no further notice to relink the line to that effect.

Similarly, hundreds of people in Jalingo, Taraba State trooped to MTN service offices to unblock their lines by the network service provider.

Each customer is charged a fee of one thousand naira by those linking customers’ lines to their NIN.

One of the staff at the office, who did not like his name mentioned, said that only customers who did not link their lines with their NIN were barred.

Barring of mobile lines has no connection with planned protest            – Telecom operators

The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has said the barring of some Nigerian mobile lines has no connection with the planned protest.

Some Nigerian youths have been mobilising for national public protest against bad governance in Nigeria.

The planned protest tagged #EndBadGovernace is scheduled to begin on Thursday, August 1, 2024.

But many telecom users woke up at the weekend to have their mobile lines barred by the telecom operators.

This has made some Nigerians on the social media to insinuate that their lines were barred in order to stifle them and prevented them from the planned protest.

However, ALTON in a joint statement on Monday denied that some Nigerian mobile lines were barred to prevent them from taking part in the protest.

“The attention of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has been drawn to some online reports linking them ongoing subscriber line barring exercise with the planned national protest.

“There’s absolutely no connection between the two. The NIN/SIM link registration deadline has earlier been set for 31st July, 2024”, the statement signed by ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, and its Executive Secretary, Gbolahan Awonuga, said.

The fact of the matter, ALTON said, is that the harmonisation exercise of the SIM Registration Database and National Identity Database has been ongoing for several months and it is aimed at improving the integrity of the National SIM registration database.

It said customers who had their lines blocked recently are those whom their service providers found a mismatch between their records on both databases.

It said: “We advise such customers to contact their service providers through communicated channels for resolution of the issue.”

Contributions by Philip Shimnom Clement, Zakariyya Adaramola (Abuja),  Ahmed Datti (Kano), Mumini Abdulkareem (Ilorin),  Adenike Kaffi (Ibadan), Haruna Gimba Yaya (Gombe), Hameed Oyegbade (Osogbo), Tijani Labaran (Lokoja) & Magaji Isa Hunkuyi (Jalingo)