Thousands of MTN users besieged the company’s Idi-Ape office in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, on Monday protesting the sudden blockage of their Subscriber Identification Modules.
The situation intensified when the telecom company blocked users’ phone numbers due to NIN-SIM linkage issues without prior warning.
Trending videos circulating online show crowds of frustrated customers sending MTN staff members home in response to the disruption.
A tweet by Oyo Affairs, using the @Oyoaffairs handle, showed thousands stranded at the Idi-Ape office.
Ogbeni Adefila commented that: “If you are concerned about your SIM block, protest is never a remedy. Get yourselves together as an entity and take up a Class Action against the service providers. Sue them and get right.”
Another MTN SIM user, OluwaLoba, @iamtobzz lamented: “This Idi-Ape MTN office is choked o.”
Razqee (@showband007) added that some MTN users who had registered and linked their SIMs with their NIN still experienced service interruptions.
“A friend of mine has his MTN SIM registered and with NIN verified written on his MTN app, so blocking him again,” he tweeted.
READ ALSO: NCC warns against purchase of pre-registered SIMs
Meanwhile, a subscriber named Jamal Kolade faulted the protesters, arguing that the service provider had issued warnings about the SIM blocks for unlinked National Identification Numbers.
His tweet read: “What do you mean by prior warning? Do you know since when they’ve been telling people to link their NIN to their SIM?”
Similarly, a user codenamed Abcone @WORLDWIDEFINAN5, said: “My MTN line was blocked on Saturday. Meanwhile, the service provider has been sending notices; if you don’t have the right information, you should have done your findings. This is unnecessary and unacceptable at this crucial moment in our country.
Gbenga Adebayo, President of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, responded to insinuations that the SIM bans were linked to the call for protest, saying the telcos were not deliberately barring lines.
“If there is anything, it is the mismatch in NIN- SIM registration and customers who have received messages from operators to come and register and link their SIMs. It is just coincidental it is coming at this point,” he said.
In March 2024, MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola said the company barred 8.6 million subscribers in compliance with the NCC directive. Many of these lines were reactivated leading to a reduction of 2 million in total subscribers for Q1 2024.
“We have 8.9 million subscribers going through the verification process, and these subscribers fall within the cohort of less than five SIMs linked to an unverified NIN,” Toriola said.
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