The Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Communications Commission have issued a final directive to Deposit Money Banks and Mobile Network Operators to resolve the protracted N250bn Unstructured Supplementary Service Data debt dispute.
Both the CBN and the NCC are government regulatory bodies.
The directive was contained in a joint document dated December 20, 2024, signed by the Executive Director of Payment Management of the Central Bank, Oladimeji Taiwo, and the Head of Legal and Regulatory Services of the NCC, Chizua Whyte.
The document, obtained exclusively by our correspondent, shows payment plans to eliminate debt and introduce new working methods for USSD services.
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According to the guidelines, 60% of all expenditures incurred before the implementation of APIs in February 2022 must be paid by the end of the year.
Payment agreements (income or payment) must be completed by January 2, 2025, and fully resolved by July 2, 2025.
For debts incurred after February 2022, the CBN and NCC require banks to pay 85% of all outstanding invoices by December 31, 2024, and ensure that 85% of future invoices are settled within 1 month of publication.
The regulator also ordered both parties to stop all ongoing issues related to USSD debt issues, warning that non-compliance could result in serious penalties.
Based on the above, the CBN and NCC called on all DMBs and MNOs to comply with the payment terms to ensure a final settlement. The report said failure to do so would result in sanctions.
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This move came under pressure from radio users who had previously called for a clear payment system to resolve the debt problem, leading to a crisis in the economy on the bank and phone.
