MTN Nigeria Support sent out the following succinct statement via X on Tuesday morning: “Hello customer, please be informed that our shops nationwide will be closed today, July 30, 2024.”
This comes after the network provider blocked some of its subscribers’ lines on Sunday, which infuriated them across the nation.
On Monday, a video went viral showing a bunch of irate users demolishing an MTN office’s fence.
It was noted that Nigerians swarmed MTN’s main office in Maitama District, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), hoping to make sure their connections were reconnected.
Similar circumstances existed in other MTN offices throughout the Federal Capital Territory and the states of the federation, as it was believed that mobile phone providers were attempting to disrupt communication in advance of the nationwide demonstration that was set to begin on August 1.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ordered all mobile service providers to revive all terminated lines in response to public uproar.
The NCC stated in a statement on Monday that it made the choice because the customer comes first.
“Many telecom subscribers/consumers were unable to access their phone lines over the weekend due to their inability to verify their National Identification Numbers (NINs) with their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs),” the statement stated. This indicated that their telecom service providers had blacklisted their numbers in accordance with NIN-SIM linking rules and policies.
The date for the complete network to be blocked out, with the exception of users with four or less SIMs who have unconfirmed NIN information, was set for April 15, 2024. The deadline has been revisited by the commission several times since December 2023. After then, the deadline was extended to July 31, 2024, to offer customers more time to make sure the NIN information they had submitted was accurately validated. Many phone lines have not yet been connected to confirmed NINS, despite these extensions.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria is conducting this exercise with the aim of improving national security and guaranteeing the accuracy of the national SIM ownership database.” The NIN-SIM linkage policy offers a vital infrastructure that guarantees citizens’ access to the advantages of a thriving digital economy while also assisting in the authentication and protection of users’ identities.
The commission has instructed all operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend due to the limited time available for customers to complete the verification of their NINs with their SIMs. Because the customer is our top priority, the commission has taken into consideration the difficulties the blockages have caused. In order to enable them to correctly link their NIN to their SIM, reactivated customers should be aware that this is only available for a short time.
