Irate subscribers destroy fence at MTN office in Lagos over barred lines

A group of angry customers pulled down the fence at an MTN Nigeria office in Festac town, Lagos.

The incident happened on Monday after subscribers besieged the MTN office to lodge complaints about the recent blocking of their telephone lines by the telecommunication company.

Many Nigerians also went to other offices of the telecommunication firm in some parts of the country over the development.

Many Nigerians were unable to use their telephone lines over the weekend because they failed to link their national identification number (NIN) with the subscriber identity module (SIM) cards.

The disconnection was a result of the NIN-SIM linkage policy introduced by the federal government.

In a video obtained on social media, some of the angry subscribers were seen pulling down the fence of the MTN office at the Festac town.

TheCable understands that many subscribers were denied access into the complex due the hordes of customers that were inside the building at the time.

Reacting to the video, Benjamin Hundeyin, Lagos police spokesperson, said operatives from Festac restored normalcy at the MTN office.

Earlier, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ordered telecommunication operators to immediately reconnect all phone lines that were blocked as part of the NIN-SIM verification exercise.

The NIN-SIM linkage policy began in December 2020 when the federal government directed telecommunication companies to bar unregistered SIM cards and SIMs not linked to NINs.

Since December 2023, the NCC has reviewed the deadline a few times, but April 15, 2024, was later set as the final deadline for NIN-SIM linkage.

However, the deadline was later reviewed to July 31 “to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified”.