Nigeria: How barring of phone lines heightens tension amid protest scare

Just days before a planned nationwide protest against economic hardship, Nigerian telecom operators faced intense backlash from the public after enforcing the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) mandate to disconnect numbers not properly linked to the National Identity Number (NIN).

Major carriers like MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Glo, and 9Mobile disconnected thousands of subscribers for non-compliance with the NIN-SIM linkage directive.

This led to widespread outrage, with protesters storming telecom offices across the country.

The protesters accused the telcos of attempting to sabotage the protest scheduled for August 1-10, 2024, by deliberately restricting their network services.

The situation escalated when prominent Nigerian lawyer Ebun-Olu Adegboruwa accused the telecom companies of deliberately impeding the protest by blocking subscribers’ lines. He suggested that the telcos’ actions were aimed at limiting the reach of their customers to frustrate the protest.

In response, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators in Nigeria (ALTON), dismissed these claims as unfounded. Adebayo argued that since telecom operators serve both supporters and opponents of the protest, it would be counterproductive for them to intentionally obstruct it.

Despite these assurances, protests against the network disconnections continued, with demonstrators causing damage to telecom facilities in cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Warri, Oshogbo, and others.

In Festac Town, Lagos, and Oshogbo, Osun State, protesters vandalized telecom offices and disrupted traffic, expressing their frustration over the disconnections.

The Nigerian Communications Commission has since directed all telecom operators to promptly reactivate disconnected lines to allow consumers to complete their NIN-SIM linkages.

This temporary measure is intended to ease the verification process for subscribers.

NCC said: “At the weekend many subscribers/consumers were unable to access their phone lines because of the inability of many telecom consumers to verify their National Identification Numbers (NINs) with their Subscriber Identification Modules (SIMs). This meant that their numbers were blocked by their telecom service providers in keeping with laws and policies of the NIN-SIM linkage.

“Telecoms consumers and the public will recall the compulsory linkage of NIN with SIM which began in December 2020 when the government directed telecommunication companies to bar unregistered SIM cards and SIMs that were not linked to NIN.

“Since December 2023, the Commission has reviewed the deadline a few times; 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. This deadline was then reviewed to July 31, 2024, to give consumers more time to ensure their submitted NIN details are properly verified. Despite these extensions, many phone lines are yet to be linked with verified NINs.

“The objectives of this exercise by the Federal Government of Nigeria include enhancing national security and ensuring the national SIM ownership database is accurate.

The NIN-SIM linkage policy aids in verifying and protecting users’ identities while also providing a critical infrastructure that assures access to the benefits of a robust digital economy for the citizenry.

“The consumer is our priority; therefore, considering the challenges the blockages have caused, the Commission has directed all operators to reactivate all lines that were disconnected over the weekend in view of the short time available for consumers to undertake the verification of their NINs with their SIMs. Reactivated consumers are to note that this is for a limited period to allow them to properly link their NIN to their SIM.

“Members of the public who are yet to verify their SIMs are encouraged to do so as soon as possible to maintain access to their lines,” the commission added.

In compliance with the reconnection directive of the NCC, the telcos, through their umbrella body, the Association of Telecom Operators in Nigeria, ALTON confirmed to Vanguard that efforts to reactivating barred lines are in top gear but however appealed that while some barred lines would get instant reversal, some others may take up to 24 hours to return to making calls, saying it’s a natural network behaviour.

The association’s Chairman Engr. Gbenga Adebayo also berated the wanton destruction of telcos facilities in many parts of the country saying such actions do not only set the operators backward but also severely affect quality of service.

He said that the millions of naira to be used in restoring such damaged facilities will set the already dwindling revenue of the operators and eventually affect their contribution to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP.

ALTON confirmed that efforts are underway to restore the affected lines, though some may take up to 24 hours to be fully functional. The association condemned the destruction of telecom facilities, noting that the damage not only disrupts services but also impacts the operators’ financial stability and their contribution to the national economy.