Crowds of Nigerians have stormed telecommunication stores across Nigeria after telcos began barring the following lines that were not linked with a National Identification Number (NIN) over the weekend.
This is in compliance with the Nigerian Communications Commission’s July 31, 2024, deadline for SIM-NIN linkage. Since February 2024, telcos have implemented a phased disconnection of lines. At the end of 2023, the regulator asked telcos to disconnect lines that had not been successfully linked with an NIN across three phases.
According to the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the umbrella body for all telcos, customers who have had their lines blocked are those with a mismatch between their records on both databases (i.e., SIM and NIN).
“We advise such customers to contact their service providers through communicated channels for resolution of the issue,” it said in a statement.
Over the weekend, Nigerians woke up to barred lines, especially on the MTN network. “I had to go to their office after church. It’s not yet rectified. I just got home. I can only call and receive messages on WhatsApp using Wi-Fi,” Nike Benson told Business Day on Sunday. “The name on the SIM is Hellen Ajibade, but I don’t know the person. I have been using the number for over 20 years.”
Read also: Outcry as telcos bar lines days to SIM-NIN deadline
On Monday, many Nigerians, like Nike, besieged telco stores that had yet to open. The MTN store at Bode Thomas already has a long queue that has spilled to the sidewalks and beyond the street curb.
The MTN’s store at Allen Avenue is also jam-packaged. Customers at the MTN store in Berger were threatening to break into the store at the time of BusinessDay’s visit (8:30 am) because they were not being attended to.
A couple of these subscribers said the issue started on Friday. “My calls are not going through,” one subscriber at the Berger centre said.
“I’m sure they are doing this because of the upcoming protest. Without network connections, people cannot come together to protest. They know what they are doing,” another alleged.
Many of the lines affected appear to be MTN, the biggest telco in the country by market share. During a visit to other stores, particularly Airtel, BusinessDay observed normal activities.
Affected MTN subscribers are advised to visit nin.mtn.ng to check their NIN status and proceed if they need to be linked. Subscribers are to enter an OTP, then NIN, give consent, and then submit a NIN linking request.
However, it revealed that if the subscriber is unable to receive OTP, they should visit nearby MTN stores to unblock their lines. When telcos implemented the first two phases of disconnections, an estimated 50 million lines were barred. According to sources in the NCC, the July 31 deadline for linking lines to NINs will not be extended. “It will be the final extension. All issues about SIM-NIN must be resolved by then,” one source said.
ALTON further debunked links to reports linking the ongoing barring exercise to 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,” ALTON added.
Photos and videos of customers at Ojodu Berger queuing to reactivate their SIM cards after their phone lines were barred for not being linked to their NIN
Credit: Temitayo Jayeola#nationalidentificationnumber #simcards #businessday pic.twitter.com/btMPRx1jb3
— BusinessDayNG (@BusinessDayNg) July 29, 2024
