Telecoms firm MTN has closed its offices nationwide.
“Yello customer, please be informed that our shops nationwide will be closed today, 30th July 2024,” the company announced on its customer support X handle.
MTN directed its customers to use their digital channels for support.
Although the company did not specify the reason for the closure, it comes just 24 hours after aggrieved customers vandalized MTN’s office in the Festac area of Lagos.
The aggrieved customers, whose lines were disconnected due to non-compliance with the NIN-SIM linkage policy, stormed the office to complain. Viral videos showed some of them pulling down the office’s fence.
The intervention of the Lagos State police restored normalcy to the area. “This should not be the way to go! Meanwhile, the DPO Festac and his men responded immediately after they got this report,” the spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command, Benjamin Hundeyin, wrote on his X handle while reacting to a video post of the vandalism. “They succeeded in restoring normalcy and are still on the ground to maintain peace.”
In several parts of the country, customers whose lines were disconnected besieged MTN’s offices to rectify the issue.
Millions of phone users had seen their lines blocked for failing to link their National Identity Number (NIN) with their SIMs, causing widespread panic. Some claimed it was part of the Federal Government’s measures to halt the planned protest over hardship and bad governance.
However, the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday ordered the telecommunications firms to reactivate the blocked lines.
“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,” said Reuben Muoka, the spokesman for the regulatory body.
“Reactivated consumers are to note that this is for a limited period to allow them to properly link their NIN to their SIM,” the regulator added.