Telecommunication companies under the direction of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will terminate the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) access for nine banks due to their failure to pay off a debt of N160 billion that has been outstanding since 2019.
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In a notification issued on Wednesday, the NCC identified the banks along with 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).
The NCC stated that telecom companies will cut the USSD access for these banks starting Monday, January 27, 2025, unless they resolve their debt.
“As part of its commitment to consumer protection, the Commission wants to inform consumers that they may lose access to the USSD services of the affected banks from January 27, 2025,” the NCC mentioned.
Previously, telecom operators indicated that they would temporarily suspend the USSD access of 18 banks due to unfulfilled payments totaling N200 billion.
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However, on Wednesday, they announced that nine of these banks have settled their debts, while another nine have yet to make payments. It was noted that the overall debt has decreased to N160 billion.
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