The federal government has insisted that no telecommunication firm in the country would be allowed to charge their customers for the use of their platform to carry out online banking activities.
The government said any telecom firm that violates its directive would be sanctioned appropriately.
In a tweet on Thursday, minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami said he has ordered the suspension of the proposed Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) charges on customers who use them.
MTN Nigeria, the local unit of South Africa's telecoms giant had on Sunday notified its customers its plans to charge N4 per 20 seconds for the use of USSD in banking transactions.
Both the minister and the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele have kicked against the introduction of the new charges by the telecoms firm, saying it will impact negatively on the policy of financial inclusion in the country.
“After receiving briefing about the proposed USSD charges, I realized there was no justification for the new tariff,” minister of communication said in the tweet.
“Consequently, I directed it’s immediate suspension, any telecom operator that violates this directive would be sanctioned appropriately.”
Although the body of bank chief executives have come out to condemn the charges by MTN and other telecoms firms, the association of telecoms operators in the country has in a statement during the week said banks are the biggest beneficiary of the USSD charges.
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