- It won’t seriously affect our services
- Nature of the planned protests will determine how long closure will take
By Olawale Lamina
MTN Nigeria Tuesday confirmed the report that it closed its offices nationwide, saying it was intended to shield its workers from being exposed to further danger than suffered on Monday, even as customers have continued to register their discontent over their frustrations, leading to angry reactions.
The telecommunication company said it was still counting and taking stock of its losses, consequent on disruption of its operations and physically damages to its facilities
“Our workers have suffered untold humiliation already and we did not want more harm to happen to them.
“However, the decision will not affect any of our services which will be going seamlessly on the background. But, what I don’t know, is when to open offices. It will depend on the nature of the nationwide protest and how long it lasts.
Some people had mischievously instigated that the protest begins at MTN offices and true to type, that can happen, and if it does while our workers are in the office, they may be subjected to more harm, ” stated a source at the Telco.
On Tuesday, MTN announced the closure of its offices and service centres nationwide, calling on its subscribers to use its digital platforms for any support they may need, through a notice on its Customer Care handle on X, stating that: “Please, be informed that our shops nationwide will be closed today, 30th July. We are available 24/7 to support you via our digital channels.
It would be recalled that many angry subscribers had besieged MTN offices in many parts of the country vandalizing the facilities of the Telco, following massive barring of subscribers’ lines in compliance to the NCC’s directive that any telephone line not properly linked with the National Identity Number be barred on July 30th.
In the midst of the development, some curious Nigerians had insinuated that what is going on was to ensure that those planning nationwide protests had little or no chance of conducting an effective mobilization, apart from another insinuation that it was intended to arrest security breaches that may arise in course of the protests.
Earlier, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC in a statement, had directed all mobile 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.
The NCC said that it took the decision because the consumer is its priority.
.NCC’s Press 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.
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.
Members of the public who are yet to verify their SIMs are encouraged to do so as soon as possible to maintain access to their lines.
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