Despite the 31st July deadline stipulated by the Nigerian Communication Commission, many Nigerians have complained of being disconnected from their mobile networks.
Crowds have gathered outside MTN and Airtel offices in some parts of the country over barred lines.
On Sunday, many Nigerians took to social media platforms to lament that their MTN lines have been barred from making or receiving calls.
Bashir Ahmad on his X handle tweeted that:
“It seems MTN has blocked hundreds of numbers from their network today. Many people around me have complained about losing service. Has anyone else experienced this issue?”
As of April 2024, the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) claimed that 40 million telephone numbers were barred following the directives of the NCC. The NCC had earlier given a directive that all numbers unlinked with NIN should be disconnected. They maintained their directive but had given the telecommunication companies July 31st as deadline.
The telecommunication companies commenced a mass disconnection of telephone lines not linked with national identification numbers (NINs) late Saturday. Airtel, MTN, 9mobile and Glo subscribers have lamented their inability to use their Sim cards since Sunday.
Though the restriction comes ahead of the planned nationwide protest billed for August 1, some persons have come out to state the line barring did not occur to stop the protest. Bashir Ahmad, the Digital Communications Assistant to Former President Muhammadu Buhari said on his X handle that the blocking was not due to the protest. He said:
“After my earlier tweet complaining about MTN blocking user lines, a senior government official reached out to me and clarified that the issue was not connected to the planned protest. The lines were actually blocked because the NIN details did not match the information submitted during SIM registration. Examples of such mismatches include discrepancies in names or dates of birth.
“He also told me that MTN and Airtel have sent out SMS notifications to the affected users, advising them to visit their offices or use the self-service portal to resubmit their NIN with the correct details.”
This update did not stop the angry crowds outside MTN offices because many claimed to have submitted their NIN details already but were still blocked.
On February 29, NCC said 45 million subscribers would be barred for not implementing the linkage. The latest deadline was extended from April 15, 2024, to July 31st.
