The recent wave of protests at MTN offices across Nigeria has been triggered by the telecom company’s enforcement of the July 31 deadline for linking SIM cards to National Identification Numbers (NINs). This directive from the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) required all telecom operators to block lines that are not linked to NINs, leading to widespread frustration among customers who found their mobile services disrupted.
The protests have seen customers in cities like Lagos, Delta, Akwa-Ibom, Ibadan, Oshogbo, and Sango Otta take to MTN offices to express their dissatisfaction. Many of these protesters believe that the timing of the SIM card blockages is a strategy to divert attention from the upcoming nationwide protest against bad governance, scheduled to start on August 1, 2024. They suspect that the SIM blockage is an attempt to interfere with the protest activities.
Omoyele Sowore, a prominent figure in the protest movement, has called on his followers to voice their grievances and make their concerns known to the telecom company. He has suggested that any service disruptions from MTN could be part of a larger scheme to undermine the protest and has encouraged people to take action in response.
The situation underscores the tension between the government’s regulatory measures and public sentiment, as well as the potential impact of such actions on political and social activism in the country.