Nigeria’s telecom operators are pushing for regulatory approval from the Nigerian Communications Commission to withdraw Unstructured Supplementary Service Data services from banks due to an outstanding debt of over N250bn.
This debt has been a contentious issue for the past six years, prompting past interventions from the Central Bank of Nigeria under Godwin Emefiele’s leadership and the former Minister of Communications, Isa Pantami, but no lasting solution has been reached.
The USSD service initially developed by telecom companies for providing airtime and subscription services has been widely adopted in the banking sector because it does not require an internet connection.
The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, lamented that banks have been profiting from USSD services without fulfilling their payment obligations in the last six years.
“Under normal circumstances, this would be a straightforward commercial transaction, but it has gained political interest. If it were simply business as usual, there are clauses in the contract that would allow each party to prepare themselves.”
