Customers Protest At MTN Office In Osun, Block Major Road Over Barred SIM

A large group of MTN customers in Osun State, on Monday morning, staged a protest near the Dada Estate, where the service provider’s state office is located.

Naija News gathered that the demonstrators, who began arriving as early as 6 a.m., were seeking a resolution for SIM cards that had been blocked due to inconsistencies with their National Identification Numbers (NIN).

The protest led to a blockade of the Osogbo-Iwo road, which caused significant traffic disruptions in the area. The crowd included elderly individuals, women—some of whom were pregnant—and civil servants, all visibly frustrated by their inability to get service at the office.

Ismail Ademola, a resident of Dada Estate affected by the SIM blockade, noted that as of 8 a.m., the office was only attending to customers who had unresolved issues from the previous week, leaving new arrivals without assistance.

Another protester, Ifeoluwa Dayo, expressed frustration after travelling from Ikirun in the Ifelodun local government area early in the morning, only to be told to return another day due to high transportation costs.

To manage the escalating situation, security personnel, including officials from the Department of State Services (DSS), were deployed to the office to maintain order.

In addition, a second MTN partner office in Fakunle faced its own issues, with hundreds of customers stranded due to a network malfunction.

Bashir Olaoye, a customer from Ede, reported having visited the office since last Friday and arriving again on Monday morning, only to be informed of the network glitch.

Olaoye, who had previously linked his NIN to his mobile number, was perplexed by the ongoing blockage. He criticized the online portal provided for NIN linkage, claiming it was also malfunctioning.

An MTN senior staff member told Vanguard that the disruptive actions by customers had hindered the service at the head office.

However, he assured that the company’s other centers across the state were adequately equipped to assist with NIN linkage without requiring a visit to the Osogbo office.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a directive of unblocking to telecommunication operators over several customers’ blocked phone lines affected by the NIN-SIM verification exercise.