NIN-SIM linkage: MTN Nigeria closes ALL offices nationwide ‘over vandalism’

MTN Nigeria has announced the closure of all offices across the country from July 30.

An official of the telecommunication company confirmed this to TheCable on Tuesday.

The source said the decision was due to the vandalisation of the company’s offices by aggrieved customers whose lines were disconnected in line with the government’s NIN-SIM linkage policy.

On July 27, Nigerians nationwide reported being blocked from making or receiving calls after their telephone lines were barred due to failure to link their national identification numbers (NINs) with the subscriber identity module (SIM) cards.

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

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

The offices of other telecommunication firms in some parts of the country — Oyo, FCT, and Kano — were also besieged by subscribers over the development.

However, while the chaos raged on, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ordered telecommunication operators to temporarily 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 set as the deadline for the full network barring of subscribers with four or fewer SIMs that had unverified NIN details.

However, the deadline was later reviewed to July 31, 2024, “to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified”.