By Our Reporter
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed the telecommunication providers to immediately restore all disconnected phone lines barred over the weekend.
The order comes in view of the massive disconnection over the weekend of subscribers’ SIM cards by the telecoms operators, and the outrage that followed such action.
In a statement released Monday by NCC and signed by its Director, Public Affairs, Mr, Reuben Muoka, NCC ordered telecoms operators to immediately reactivate all lines that were affected by the NIN-SIM exercise at the weekend.
According to the NCC statement, “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.
“Telecoms consumers and the public will recall the compulsory linkage of NIN with SIM which began in December 2020 when the government directed telecommunication companies to bar unregistered SIM cards and SIMs that were not linked to NIN.
“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.”
Most Nigerians woke up over the weekend to find out to their utter surprise and dismay that their phone lines have been cut off and thereby barred from making or receiving calls, without any known reasons or prior notification.
Consequently, large crowds of angry customers besieged the MTN offices in most parts of Lagos to vent their frustrations and to know why they were suddenly barred from making or receiving calls .
Despite the explanation by the telecom providers that the exercise was to ensure that subscribers NIN’s were properly aligned with their SIMs, many, however, believe that it was a ploy by the government and the telecommunication network providers to keep many Nigerians incommunicado given the nationwide protest scheduled to begin on Thursday. August 1, 2024.
At MTN ofiice at Yaya Abatan, Ogba, customers gathered, angry that they had to jettison more important businesses to be there just to restore their lines.
Mr, Vincent Gbore, a businessman, told FP that he lacked words to describe the depth of his anger at the behaviour of the network providers.
He said; “This is just not the right time for the network providers to embark on this exercise”, adding that they would only make matters worse for the government given the tension in the country already.
Another customer, Ms. Felicia Badmus, a student said; “This sort of action can only be tolerated in Nigeria, because we are not a litigant society.” According to her, the amount of money and businesses that many may have lost as a result of this action cannot be quantified.
She said MTN obviously didn’t think through this, before acting, knowing that there are people whose livelihood depended on their phones. “What about those in hospitals and the children at school who needed to get to their loved ones urgently?” She asked.
Reacting to the general insinuations that the blocking of Subscribers’ SIMs was not unrelated to the planned protest, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) recently issued a statement, denying the action of SIM card disconnection from the planned national protest that is billed to begin on Thursday, August 1.
According to ALTON statement, “The attention of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has been drawn to some online reports linking the 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 fact of the matter is that the harmonization exercise of the SIM Registration database and National Identity Database has been ongoing for several months. This is aimed at improving the integrity of the National SIM registration database. Customers who had their lines blocked recently are those whom their service providers found a mismatch between their records on both databases. We advise such customers to contact their service providers through communicated channels for resolution of the issue.”
On Monday, angry mob reportedly vandalized a section of mobile telephone network operator, MTN, property in Festac Town, Lagos, over the SIM blockade.
Given the huge crowd at some of the MTN offices in some parts of Lagos, the staff promised to work all through the weekend, Sunday inclusive, to be able to attend to all aggrieved customers.