Several subscribers have taken to social media on Tuesday to express their displeasure over the barring of their communication lines by telecommunication network providers in Nigeria.
REPORTERS AT LARGE earlier reported thay the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria, on Tuesday, said its members would comply with the Federal Government’s directive barring outgoing calls of subscribers who were yet to link their National Identification Number with their SIM.
The association made this known in a statement jointly signed by its chairman, Mr Gbenga Adebayo, and Head of Operations, Mr Gbolahan Awonuga.
It was earlier reported that the deadline handed on Nigerians by the Federal Government to link their NIN to their SIMs ended on March 31, after about eight postponements.
At the last minute, the government pushed for the linkage and on Friday, directed Nigerians to ensure they completed the verification and linkage of their NINs to their SIMs within days.
Meanwhile, many of the subscribers who have linked their sims to the NIN, have continued to receive the message that their outgoing calls have been barred for not linking their sims to the NIN.
One of the subscribers whose outgoing calls were barred on his three lines (who pleaded anonymity) told our correspondents that “It is so disheartening that the government has continued to frustrate us in this country. It appears that the people in government would just import a foreign idea and policy, and impose it on us without taking their time to situate it into our environment. It is also unfortunate that they would start the implementation of policies without putting the necessary machinery in place to ensure their smooth running.
“I woke up this morning to see my lines barred from outgoing calls. Meanwhile, I had linked all my sims almost immediately after the government gave the order. Immediately I saw my lines barred from outgoing calls, I checked the status of my lines on the NIN mobile app on my phone, and they were marked “activated.” So, I wondered why my lines were barred. I’ve lost a contract worth N3.3 this morning because I couldn’t call a client.”
Another subscriber, who simply referred to himself as Alhaji Akintunde, said his outgoing calls were barred early today disclosed that the customer care of the telecommunication company he uses was confused about what happened.
“They don’t seem to be knowledgeable about the application of the policy. Both the NIMC and the telecommunication companies in Nigeria are simply confused and ignorant. We deserve an apology from them,” Akintunde Said.
Some customers called out MTN for restricting their lines despite having linked them with their National Identification Numbers.
“Mtn has done their worse ba. They have finally done what they have been saying they will do. I hope they are happy?
@MTNNG, what will happen to my airtime now? #givemebackmyairtime #blocked #mtn,” @rinaj_walta tweeted.
“Been trying to add my nimc number for over months it keeps saying error input again. After 6 months oooo. You guys decided to wake and block off my number. Kodaaaa naaa,” @teslim_oyedele said.
@Drjoshobi posted, “why am I not able to make calls, my NIN has been duly linked to my mobile number. What’s all this?”
