MTN staff have lamented over the deadline slated for January to conclude SIM card re-registration to upgrade data of subscribers.

DAILY POST reports that following a fine imposed on MTN by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, for having 1.5 million unregistered SIMs in its network, it started another round of SIM cards registration in the country.

The registration which is expected to continue till the end of January to ensure that many subscribers are properly captured in the MTN database as required by the NCC, has undoubtedly caused tension among MTN staff and subscribers who throng their outlets daily.

While many subscribers have lamented over the spate of uncontrollable crowd, some MTN staff, however, say there is no better way in which the network provider could upgrade its database, except for the affected customers to visit their outlets for fresh registration of their SIM cards.
DAILY POST correspondent, who visited some MTN outlets in the Federal Capital Territory, witnessed large turnout of subscribers at the registrations centres which has pushed some MTN staff into panic and edginess.
An MTN staff, simply identified as Bimbo, attached to the Maitama MTN office, said she wished the turnout of subscribers were not as much as she saw daily.
In a chat with DAILY POST, Bimbo, a customer care agent, said, “The turnout is alarming. Its annoying how this number of people happened to have their SIM cards unregistered or properly registered.
“I now come to work as early as 7 a.m. There is no way we can meet this deadline because I don’t know if the crowd is increasing by the day or reducing.”
On how a total of 1.5 million subscribers can possibly be unregistered before it was detected, Bimbo said,
“Most of these customers registered with these roadside vendors. It’s not the fault of MTN, it is the fault of subscribers and now, they have only ended up putting us on an the edge.
“They buy a SIM card and instead of proceeding to the MTN office close by, they stop along the road to do shard-sharp registration.
“And you know, most of these vendors are not from MTN really. A guy can just wake up one day, gets a laptop, an MTN umbrella, maybe an apron and set up his office at a corner and claim to be an MTN petty official. This is wrong. I’m sure these are why we have such issues of unregistered SIMs,” she told DAILY POST.
At the Garki II, Lagos street MTN outlet, there was an alarming and arguable turnout in which the indoor lightening was not bright enough, hence; the staff had issues capturing the images of subscribers to be registered.
DAILY POST discovered that the staff, in their bid to capture clear images, resorted to using rechargeable touch light.
Similarly, a mild drama played out at the Garki II registration outlet when a Muslim woman, dressed in her hijab, refused security search at the entrance to the registration centre.
DAILY POST gathered that the Muslim woman from one of the Western states, said she will not unveil herself before she will gain access into an office ‘in her own country.’
A police officer, speaking with DAILY POST on the issue, said, “This woman is a suspect. How can you come to a public place dressed like this and you expect to gain access into an office that is not yours?
“No one knows what she has under her veil. She may be carrying a bomb, who knows?20160115_115508-1
“This is the reason why we insisted on searching her and she claimed she is a Minister’s wife,” the officer, told DAILY POST.
Meanwhile, the alleged Minister’s wife gained access into the office through the intervention of one of the MTN staff who identified herself simply as Zainab.
Zainab, the front desk Manager, said the unidentified woman asked to be privately attended to as she cannot unveil herself in public.
According to her, “The woman asked me to register her in a private room because she cannot remove her veil. I told her it is not in any way possible and after pleading, I asked her, “what if I want to take your photo during the registration?”
Zainab said the alleged Minister’s wife also declined and asked for the registration to be done without her snap shot. She said the woman later asked that she seek permission from her husband before she can unveil her face for the registration process to be completed.
Subsequently, all effort to reach the Manager of the branch proved abortive but Zainab, speaking with DAILY POST correspondent after seeking the permission of her Manager, said, “My Manager is not on sit at the moment. However, I can speak while she is not available.”
On why the service provider could not find a better way to upgrade the data of subscribers rather than let customers gather at their expense, despite the security challenges in the country, Zainab said,” I really can’t answer that but really, there is no way.”
She, however, refused to comment further as she said her Manager had instructed her not to disclose much to the press.
Some subscribers lamented that the process was becoming unbearable.
A Nigeria Air Force, NAF, personnel who identified himself simply as Jibola, said he forced himself down to the MTN office.
Jibola who was dressed in his uniform said, “I am supposed to be at work now but this is also important, so I had to bring myself down here by all means.
“My only security. I just hope it’s a top priority here.”
A staff of the National Hospital Abuja, Bala Maude, said he threw his SIM card away when he got the notification of re-registration.
“What’s the essence? I have other lines; I can easily communicate with them.”
When asked what he was doing there at the MTN registration outlet, he said, “My wife insisted on using her MTN line. So, when she got the notification, I asked her to go at the initial stage and she declined. This is the tenth time in 3 days we have come here, still no luck.
“Now, we are both suffering for something that is not supposed to be my business. I have a job. I am also scared mingling with this crowd because no one knows what to expect in this country.”
“Is there not a way this MTN people can conveniently upgrade this data thing?” Maude quipped.