Some
Lagos residents have expressed frustration over having to spend many hours in
the premises of telecommunications operators in a bid to validate their
Subscribers Identity Module cards.
The
Nigerian Communications Commission had issued a directive to the telecoms
companies on June 15 to either re-register the SIM cards of some of their
subscribers whose data were not properly captured or risk heavy fines.
To
this effect, major telecoms operators, especially MTN and Airtel Nigeria, had
been sending notifications to the affected subscribers to visit their offices
in order to validate their SIM cards registration.
However,
our correspondent, who visited the offices of MTN and Airtel in the Ojodu area
of Lagos on Friday observed subscribers were made to sit and stand in the sun
in order to validate their lines.
Some
of the subscribers, who had had their telephone lines barred from accessing the
operators’ services, lamented that the new NCC directive was having a toll on
them.
Olanrewaju
Adams, an MTN subscriber whose line got barred on Wednesday, said he had been
visiting the office since Thursday, but had been unable to register his SIM
card due to the large crowd.
He
said, “I don’t understand why I need to register my line again since I’ve done
it before. They said my face was not captured. Was that my fault? Why didn’t
they do what they were supposed to do initially? I left my business yesterday
and today (Friday) again. For how long will I continue to do this?”
An
Airtel subscriber, Chigozie Udoh, said if he were to be in an advanced country,
he would have sued the telecoms operator for the stress it had caused him.
He
said, “It is just that anything goes in Nigeria. We don’t have proper planning.
Why should we be always subjected to suffering like this every time?”
The
NCC said it had identified about 38 million mobile lines which were not
properly registered with the telecoms operators. About 10 million of those
subscribers were barred last month.
MTN
said in a statement that it had increased the number of staff doing the SIM
registration/validation across all its channels and had mandated all its
registration outlets to remain open till 8pm every day until further notice.
It
said, “We also appeal that you do not panic and remain calm as you visit our
various outlets. We are committed to ensuring that all affected subscribers
complete the process as directed by the NCC.”
Nawa for dis quack pple wey dem employ to register sef.They caused this wahala. Hanhan
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