Partial compliance trails part payment of N250b USSD debt as first deadline expires

•Audit shows no major data depletion issue on mobile networks, NCC insists

While the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) were mandated to pay 60 per cent of pre-February 2022 Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debts by July 2025 and 85 per cent of post-February 2022 debts by yesterday, December 31, 2024 (yesterday), the telecommunications operators said there have been partial compliance with the directive, largely from the smaller banks.

Recall that the USSD debt, which is now about N250 billion has lingered for about five years now and has pitched the telcos against the banks.

A jointly signed circular by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), dated December 20, 2024, among other requirements, mandated the DMBs to pay 60 per cent of pre-February 2022 debts by July 2025 and that 85 per cent of post-February 2022 debts be settled by December 31, 2024.

Speaking to The Guardian, the Executive Secretary, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbolahan Awonuga, said: “we are waiting for the report from members (telcos). It could still come before the end of the day (yesterday). I also know that the banks are talking to the telcos, but it is when they (members) give us report that we will know the actual state of things.”

But the Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo said: “A few banks have paid, especially the smaller ones. But we intend to collate the report around midnight today. You know the banking system works with the time of the day. But signals earlier today suggested that some of the banks are complying but no many.

“The matter is clearly spelt out, we shall report to the regulators by the next day of business in the New Year. Based on that there are steps prescribed for non-compliance. We would expect regulator to follow them through as prescribed in the circular. I cannot say it is all done and vice versa, but earlier today, so smaller banks complied, others are doing reconciliation, some are asking for more information. But conversations are going on.”

The joint circular, signed by the Ag Director of the CBN Payments System Management Department, Oladimeji Taiwo, and the NCC Head of Legal and Regulatory Services, Chizua Whyte, also required that 85 per cent of future invoices must be liquidated within one month of service, among others.

MEANWHILE, the NCC has said its recent audit of all the mobile networks in Nigeria showed that there is no major issue of data depletion contrary to claims and complaints by subscribers.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr Aminu Maida, stated this while reviewing the activities of the telecoms regulator in 2024 with the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr Bosun Tijani in Abuja.

He, however, noted that the audit, which was concluded in Q3 2024, showed that there were minor issues on the networks, which the regulator is currently working to address.
“We had a hypothesis that it isn’t true that there is a data depletion issue in the industry. It could be perception.

“So the first thing we did was that we immediately conducted a billing audit on the systems of the major MNOs, using reputable auditors. That exercise was completed in Q3 of this year and surprisingly, we didn’t find any major issues,” he said.

The NCC EVC said another major milestone for the telecoms regulator in the year was the conclusion of the implementation of the federal government’s policy on the linkage of National Identification Number (NIN) with SIMs.

According to him, this exercise provides a lot of opportunities for the digital economy and the national security of the nation.

Maida added that with the conclusion of the implementation, every single SIM card in the country is now linked to a verified NIN.

He said the linkage now gives the telecom regulator a very strong foundation from a security perspective to work with law enforcement agencies and reliably give them the information of who owns what.

Maida emphasised that more importantly, the linkage gives Nigeria a foundation for the digital economy to build on.

“You would agree with me that almost every transaction we perform today, in one way or the other, links back to your mobile number, whether it is your e-commerce or whether it is your registration for JAMB, or just generally any service that wants to reach you for customer support.

“So having the ability to be able to clearly identify who knows what would instill a lot of confidence and integrity in the system, which would lay the right foundations for the digital economy,” the EVC said.