The reasons for the latest approval by the nation’s telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to telecommunications companies, especially the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to disconnect some nine indebted financial institutions have emerged, reports ITREALMS. NCC had on Wednesday, January 15, 2025 issued a public notice of the approval to telcos to withdraw Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) Codes assigned by the Commission to financial institutions over unreconciled over N200 billion indebtedness.
ITREALMS gathered that USSD) is a communication protocol that allows users to interact with a mobile network operator's computers; also known as "quick codes" or "feature codes".
USSD is a session-based text messaging service that runs on the network and before recently does not require a data connection or Short Messaging Service (SMS) costs, because messages are sent to or from a network entity, such as the Home Location Register (HLR), thus, the USSD codes are programmed into the SIM card or cell phone.
NCC in the giving approval for disconnection indebted financial institutions to the public, pointed out to ITREALMS that set off date is Monday, January 27, 2025, if such institutions do not settle the outstanding invoices.
According to the Director, Public Affairs of the Commission, Chief Reuben Muoka, NCC “will thereafter recover such Codes and may reassign them to other applicants in accordance with the applicable instruments.”
He also explained that the notice was in fulfillment of NCC’s consumer protection mandate.
“The Commission wishes to inform consumers that they may be unable to access the USSD platform of the affected financial institutions from January 27, 2025,” he disclosed.
Further, Muoka said that by the information made available to the Commission as at close of business on Tuesday, 14th January 2025, out of a total of 18 financial institutions, some nine (9) institutions have failed to comply significantly with the directives in the Second Joint Circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Commission dated December 20, 2024 for the settlement of outstanding invoices due to MNOs, some since 2020.
These financial institutions include Fidelity Bank Plc – 770; First City Monument Bank – 329; Jaiz Bank Plc – 773; Polaris Bank Limited – 833; Sterling Bank Limited – 822; United Bank for Africa Plc – 919; Unity Bank Plc – 7799; Wema Bank Plc – 945 and Zenith Bank Plc – 966.
Emphasising that the financial institutions’ failure to comply with the CBN-NCC Joint Circular also entails that they are unable to meet the Good Standing requirements for the renewal of the USSD Codes assigned to them by the Commission.
“The financial institutions have been duly notified of the need for immediate compliance in accordance with the Commission’s Guidelines on Short Code Operation in Nigeria, 2023,” Muoka submitted.
Remmy Nweke/DoP
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