Telecommunication companies acting under the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will cut off the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) access of nine banks over their inability to settle a N160 billion debt that has accumulated since 2019 for their use of the service.
The NCC in a notice listed the banks and their USSD codes: Fidelity Bank Plc (770), First City Monument Bank (329), Jaiz Bank Plc (773), Polaris Bank Limited (833), Sterling Bank Limited (822), United Bank for Africa Plc (919), Unity Bank Plc (7799), Wema Bank Plc (945), and Zenith Bank Plc (966).
According to the NCC, telcos will disconnect the USSD access of these banks by Monday, January 27, 2025, if they do not pay their debt.
The action according to the NNC is “In fulfilment of its consumer protection mandate, the Commission wishes to inform consumers that they may be unable to access the USSD platform of the affected financial institutions from January 27, 2025,” the NCC said.
Earlier, telcos stated that they would temporarily cut off 18 banks’ USSD access because of their inability to settle a N200 billion debt.
However, on Wednesday, it stated that nine of these banks have paid, while another nine are yet to pay, it noted that the total debt has reduced to N160 billion.
