The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has authorized the disconnection of nine banks from using Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes due to unpaid invoices.
In a statement issued on Tuesday and signed by NCC spokesperson Ruben Muoka, the commission announced that the affected banks will lose access to the assigned mobile network operators’ USSD platforms starting January 27, 2025.
The affected 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
- Zenith Bank Plc
The affected USSD codes include 770, 919, 822, among others.
“By the information made available to the commission as of the close of business on Tuesday, 14th January 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 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 Commission said.
Recall that there have been fronts and backs between MNOs and financial institutions over the unpaid USSD invoices amounting to N200 billion.
The development means a major blow to the financial inclusion drive of the country.
Meanwhile, data from the CBN revealed that 252.06 million transactions worth N2.19 trillion were conducted via USSD between January and June 2024.
This represents a significant growth compared to 2023 when 630.6 million transactions valued at N4.84 trillion were completed using USSD codes.