The Nigerian Communications Commission and telecommunications companies have ruled out any extension to the deadline for banks to settle their Unstructured Supplementary Service Data debts, meaning defaulters now have until next Monday to settle or get cut off from the USSD service.
Initially, there were nine banks that were in arrears; however, last Friday, this number had decreased to seven, as reported by the telecommunications companies that communicated with our correspondent. Out of these seven, only two financial institutions had completed their payments. On Monday, an additional bank expressed its intention to settle, resulting in six banks remaining in arrears.
The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, confirmed to newsmen that the number of defaulting banks had decreased to seven as of Friday. However, only two banks had made their payments.
This development is in line with a directive released by the telecommunications regulator on January 15, 2025, which cautioned the nine banks to settle their outstanding debts by January 27, 2025. Failure to comply may result in the loss of access to their USSD codes, a crucial service that allows millions of Nigerians to perform banking transactions without the need for internet connectivity.
