The Nigerian Communications Commission NCC has been speaking on its recent decision to approve request by telecommunications operators to suspend the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data USSD codes assigned to nine financial institutions due to unpaid debts estimated at N120billion.

Recall that the Commissionhadon Tuesday in a public notice signed its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, announced that it has authorised telecommunications operators to suspend USSD code services to the affected nine banks following their inability to settle their long indebtedness to the telecos arising from USSD code services.

Also recall that the Commission and the Central Bank of Nigeria CBN had last year intervened in the debt faceoff between the banks and the telecommunications operators, which threatened to disconnect the 18 banks from the USSD code, which prompted the NCC-CBN intervention.

The listed nine financial institutions include Fidelity Bank Plc, First City Monument Bank, Jaiz Bank Plc, Polaris Bank Limited, Sterling Bank Limited, United Bank for Africa Plc, Unity Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc, and Zenith Bank Plc. The affected USSD codes include 770, 919, 822, 329, 773, 833, 7799, 945 and 966.

The Commission noted that some the debts have been outstanding since 2020 while as at the close of work Tuesday, nine out of 18 financial institutions had not complied with regulatory directives, which also informed the decision to approve their suspension from the service.

It argued that while other banks made efforts to clear their debts, which totally amounted to N200billion initially owed by all the financial institutions, the remaining nine others remained recalcitrant despite repeated notices served on them.

The NCC further warned that the affected nine banks must settle their outstanding obligations by January 27, 2025, or risk total loss of access to their USSD codes.

The Public Notice issued the Commission reads in part: “By the information made available to the Commission as at the close of business on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, of a total of 18 financial institutions, the nine institutions listed below have failed to comply significantly with the directives in the Second Joint Circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Commission dated December 20, 2024, for the settlement of outstanding invoices due to MNOS, some of which have been outstanding since 2020.

“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 financial institutions had been duly notified of the need for immediate compliance and warned that consumers may face service disruptions if the issues remain unresolved. This development highlighted ongoing tensions between telecommunications companies and financial institutions over unpaid USSD-related debts, a challenge that has persisted for years.”