Mobile telecom firm MTN has shut down its offices nationwide following an attack on its facilities in the Festac Town area of Lagos.
“Yello customer, please be informed that our shops nationwide will be closed today, 30th July 2024,” the company said on its customer support X handle.
MTN, however, directed its customers to use their “digital channels” for support.
Aggrieved MTN subscribers whose phone numbers were blocked due to non-compliance with the NIN-SIM linkage requirement, besieged MTN’s FESTAC office on Monday and damaged its fence.
It took the intervention of police authorities in Lagos State to restore normalcy to the area.
Meanwhile, the DPO Festac and his men responded immediately they got this report. They succeeded in restoring normalcy and are still on ground to maintain peace.
“This should not be the way to go! Meanwhile, the DPO Festac and his men responded immediately after they got this report,” the spokesman of the Lagos State Police Command Benjamin Hundeyin wrote on his X handle while reacting to a video post of the vandalism.
“They succeeded in restoring normalcy and are still on the ground to maintain peace.”
In several parts of the country, customers whose lines were disconnected had besieged MTN’s offices in a bid to rectify the issue.
Millions of phone users had seen their lines blocked for failure to link their National Identify Number (NIN) with their SIMS. That generated panic among many Nigerians. Some claimed it was part of the Federal Government’s measures to halt the planned protest over hardship and bad governance.
But the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday ordered the telecommunications firms to reactivate the blocked lines.