Crowd Throng MTN Lagos Office Over Deactivation

THE fear of possible deactivation of their subscriber identification module (SIM) cards forced a huge number of customers to besiege the office of telecommunications company, MTN, at Allen Avenue, Lagos, yesterday to register their cards as required by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

When The Guardian visited the Allen shop of the corporation mid-day yesterday, security guards were seen having a tough time controlling the unsettled crowd.

Many of the people in the crowd were seen standing outside the office, while a few sat on the few available chairs within the compound of the company. Some of the customers complained about the hectic situation.

They told The Guardian that they had registered their cards at one point or the other, but wondered why the company was threatening to deactivate their lines if they did not come with their identity cards to register their lines.

A man, who pleaded anonymity, explained to The Guardian that the process of registration was too slow, adding that he came to the MTN office since 7 am. “When I came by 7 am, my number was 300 on the queue. Look, they are just attending to the 200th person on the queue. That means I will still have to wait for about 100 people to be attended to,” the customer said.