NCC, Telcos rule out deadline extension for banks USSD debt

The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and telecommunications companies have ruled out a deadline extension after Nigerian banks’ disconnection notice from Unstructured Supplementary Service Data over unpaid debts elapsed on Monday. The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, made this known in a statement.  This decision leaves defaulting lenders scrambling to meet the deadline by the close of business on Monday.
Recall that in a notice, on January 15, 2025, NCC warned nine Nigerian banks to clear their debts by January 27, 2025, or risk losing access to their USSD codes—an essential service enabling millions of Nigerians to conduct banking transactions without internet access. In an update, the nine Nigerian banks that were in arrears dropped to seven Friday last week, telcos confirmed. Of these, only two lenders had made payments. By Monday’s close, one more bank indicated its intention to settle, leaving five or six banks still in arrears.
“One of these seven has reached out to confirm that they will settle their debt today (Monday), which will leave about five or six banks still outstanding,” Adebayo said. According to him, “This is just the first phase of the directive. We hope that banks that have complied with this phase will continue to meet their obligations in subsequent ones. The second phase will see banks required to complete full payment of all pre-API invoices by July 2, 2025. Following that, the third phase mandates the settlement of 85 percent of post-API invoices by December 31, 2025.
“When it comes to the second and third phases, we expect full compliance,” Adebayo noted. “Non-compliance at any stage will have consequences, and we hope to avoid any disruption of services.”