NIN-SIM linkage: MTN offices reopen after shutting down ‘over vandalism

MTN Nigeria offices have resumed operations across the country after a nationwide shutdown on Tuesday over vandalism.

A staff at the telecommunication company told TheCable on Wednesday.

“Yes, the connect stores have resumed operations,” the source said.

On July 27, some Nigerians 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.

Subscribers besieged MTN offices to lodge complaints about the blocking of their telephone lines by the telecommunication company on Monday.

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

On Tuesday, a source said the company closed operations 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.

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 NCC urged members of the public who are yet to verify their SIMs to do so “as soon as possible to maintain access to their lines”.

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 NIN.

Since December 2023, the NCC has reviewed the deadline a few times, but April 15 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, to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified.