By Mercy Peter
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given approval to the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to disconnect the nine indebted banks on the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) platform.
The indebted banks to the MNOs had till Monday, January 27 2025.
A statement issued by the Director of Public Affairs of the Commission, Mr Reuben Mouka, stated that the Commission will thereafter recover such Codes and may reassign them to other applicants in line with the applicable instruments.
The affected banks and their USSD codes are 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.
The NCC statement reads in part: “The Nigerian Communications Commission (the Commission) hereby notifies members of the public that it is granting approval to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to disconnect Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) Codes assigned by the Commission to financial institutions which are indebted to the MNOs if such institutions do not settle the outstanding invoices by Monday, January 27, 2025.The Commission will thereafter recover such Codes and may reassign them to other applicants in accordance with the applicable instruments.
“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.
“By the information made available to the Commission as at close of business on Tuesday, 14th January 2025, of a total of 18 financial institutions, the 9 institutions listed below 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.
“The financial institutions’ failure to comply with the CBN-NCC Joint Circular also means 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”, the statement added.
