Abuja, Jan. 15, 2025 -The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given approval to telecom operators to disconnect nine banks from their Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes due to unpaid debts.
This directive was given by the NCC on Tuesday in a public notice signed by Reuben Muoka, the NCC Director of Public Affairs.
The commission said the affected nine banks were out of the 18 that were originally indebted to the telecom operators and had failed to comply with the NCC directives on the debt payment.
It listed the affected banks to include Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank, Jaiz Bank Plc, Polaris Bank Limited, Sterling Bank Limited, United Bank for Africa Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc.
The NCC said while the other banks had cleared their debts, the total amount initially owed by the banks still exceeded N200 billion.
NCC directed the affected nine banks to settle their outstanding obligations by Jan. 27, 2025 or risk losing access to their USSD codes.
It said the codes, essential for enabling mobile banking services, could be reassigned to other applicants if the debts remain unresolved.
The public notice reads in parts: “By the information made available to the commission as at close of business on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, of a total of 18 financial institutions, the nine institutions listed below have failed to comply significantly with the directives in the Second Joint Circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the commission dated December 20, 2024, for the settlement of outstanding invoices due to MNOS, some since 2020.
“In fulfilment of its 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.” (GBN)
