The Nigerian slavery quotients of its supposed citizens keep hitting an all-time high:

Living and thriving in Nigeria is not for the weak as long as you do not have powerful godfathers who would make your sail here smooth amidst the murky waters where institutionalised sharks feast on citizens.

This explains why in most cases majority of these Nigerian youths have decided on their own to take their destinies into their hands by using all the resources in their care to travel out of the country in search of greener pastures and safe spaces to live.

We all know that in Nigeria, MTN Nigeria arguably has the largest market share and by extension, most of the youths while in Nigeria make use of MTN assigned phone numbers as their major lines for their day-to-day activities. How does it feel to know that MTN now reassigns these numbers already sold to people earlier, without consulting the former owners of these phone lines?

What is funny:

While these Nigerians were based in Nigeria before they travelled out of the country, they often use these MTN phone numbers of theirs to register their bank accounts, social media accounts and all forms of documentations that are done online that require phone numbers.

For most Nigerians who travel overseas, they often retain their Nigerian lines which is what they use in operating their social media handles and bank account registration.

For those who do not want to let their friends in Nigeria to know that they have migrated out of the country, their continuous use of their Nigerian MTN lines on WhatsApp while based overseas conceals their true location.

This has been the practice for a while for many Nigeria who travel overseas until recently, that MTN started engaging in what they call reassigning and recycling of phone numbers.

 Reassigning and recycling of phone numbers by MTN Nigeria:

What this ordinarily means is that a phone number that Mr. Olakunle bought in 2006 which he has been using all these years in Nigeria before he travelled to the United Kingdom some years ago was withdrawn from him and given to another subscriber in Nigeria without any due recourse to him in any form. Their reason is that there has not been call activities on that line for a while.

This maybe operationally convenient for MTN Nigeria but we are tempted to ask, did MTN Nigeria actually think this process through before executing this seeming ambitious plan which is exposing their clients to all sorts of security risks.

Just some days ago, Mr. Olakunle who migrated to the United Kingdom from Nigeria in the year 2020 woke up to the rude shock that he could no longer gain access to his WhatsApp, other social media accounts and bank alerts.

Discovery of the year:

A distressed Mr. Olakunle assumed that he had been logged out of all his accounts by a fraudster, popularly known as yahoo boys in Nigeria. You all know that there are no limits to what a criminal can do with one’s sim card.

That got him jittery as he immediately had to contact one of his friends based in Nigeria to dial the said line on his behalf as he didn’t want to make the call with his foreign phone number.

It was during the process of making these inquiries by Mr. Olakunle’s friend in Nigeria that they got the shocker of their lives – this phone number that Mr. Olakunle has used since 2006 has just been reassigned to another subscriber in Nigeria and this new subscriber has already reregistered the same line with her details. It was not the dreaded yahoo – yahoo guys, glory be to God Almighty. The million-dollar question here is, what if it was the yahoo – yahoo guys that bought this line and were inundated with alerts of transactions they never initiated?

What is more distressing is that Mr. Olakunle, being one who does a lot of financial transactions had these multiple debit and credit alerts of huge transactions harass the phone of the new owner of the sim card in Nigeria. The amount of money seen in those alerts spiked the curiosity of the new owner of the Mr. Olakunle’s phone number.

Security implications:

Banks should be aware of this reality so that whenever any of their clients travel out of the country, such that they may not use their phone numbers in a while. There should be options for the client to receive credit alerts on their emails only and not through their phones incase these numbers are reassigned.

MTN Nigeria must make sure that when they reassign people’s numbers, that everything about those numbers which obviously would have been registered with a different National Identification Number (NIN) no longer work because what often happens is that once the numbers are reassigned, the new owner of the number keeps receiving calls from the people who once had that phone number saved as Mr. Olakunle’s own, chats and notifications of bank transactions meant for the former owner (Mr. Olakunle) who would have registered the number for those purposes at the time.

Nigerians and their disposition to meanly exploiting situations:

Mr. Olakunle being in distress overseas as he can no longer get access to his WhatsApp messenger and some other social media accounts which he used the number to register owing to the actions of MTN Nigeria, pleaded with his friend in Nigeria to interphase with the new subscriber whom the phone number has been assigned to.

The goal of Mr. Olakunle was to buy off the line from the new subscriber it had been assigned to, delink the details of the new subscriber from the sim card and have this his friend based in Nigeria register the sim card in his own name, since he can trust him.

The goal was to not let the new subscriber know that Mr. Olakunle was based overseas. However, along the line during the negotiations and the cross examinations by the new owner of Mr. Olakunle’s former line, to be sure that they were not about to be defrauded, the Nigerian based friend of Mr. Olakunle had to reveal that the real owner of the line was based overseas.

At this point, things got very wrong with the negotiation almost immediately as the new subscriber who now has the phone number which once belonged to Mr. Olakunle used every arm-twisting tactic to extort Mr. Olakunle. This story should guide you in the days to come if anything makes you have a similar experience as this narrated. Once they hear that the real owner is based overseas, their attitude often changes as they would demand more money from you.

Conclusion:

For anyone who would experience this frustration, be street smart while engaging the new subscriber of your line through any proxy you would use to avoid being exploited especially if you are based overseas.

In some cases, you may outrightly buy back the line from the new subscriber whom your phone number had been reassigned to at a fee that the new subscriber would agree to sell to your negotiator while you would continue to have the details of the new owner on the sim card, if the new subscriber is not able to not delink their details from the line. Be sure that such a person you have their details on a phone you are using is not a criminal. You can even use some legal documents and court processes to protect yourself, if you must use the sim card with the new subscriber’s details after you have bought it from them.

Do all you can to avoid being taken advantage of in this situation but always know that exploring the option of buying back the sim card while you ask the new subscriber to delink their details would be your best bet as someone stranded, who wants to keep that particular phone number in your possession.

The lawlessness in Nigeria makes telephone companies do things like these and get away with it. Protect yourself to avoid being taken advantage of by fellow desperate Nigerians especially those who believe that once you are based overseas, you owe them.