Innoson’s reported acceptance of crypto payments Clubhouse’s first anniversary The fate of USSD in Nigeria On March 12, 2020, the Association for the Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), an umbrella body for the likes of MTN, Glo, Airtel and 9Mobile, released a statement that it would withdraw USSD services from Nigerian banks. Advertisement Why? Nigerian banks apparently owe the mobile network operators a whopping sum of ₦49 billion ($102.4 million), and both parties have been unable to come to a reasonable agreement. It gets even more baffling when you consider the telco’s report that banks owed them ₦17 billion ($41 million) in August 2020.