President wants NCC to renegotiate fine with MTN

chika ebuzor

March 11, 2016 5:15 AM

There are insinuations that the ‘change’ in decision is as a result of President Zuma’s promise to return the seized arms funds.

President Muhammadu Buhari meets with South African counterpart, Jacob Zuma on March 8, 2016.

Buhari made the announcement during a joint media conference with President Jacob Zuma of South-Africa, in Abuja.

According to Sahara Reporters, Mr. President said “The concern of the federal government was on the security of the country and not the fine imposed on MTN. You know how the unregistered GSM lines were used by terrorists and between 2009 and today, at least 10,000 Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram.”

He also said “That was why the NCC asked MTN, Glo and the rest of them to register GSM subscribers. Unfortunately, MTN was very very slow and contributed to the casualties. NCC looked at its regulations and imposed the fine. Unfortunately for MTN, they went to court and once you go to court, you virtually disarm the government because if the federal government refused to listen to the judiciary, it is going against its own constitution. Therefore, the government had to wait.”

Read: Controversy as communications minister confirms N50 billion payment by telecom giant, NCC denies knowledge of payment

“I think MTN has seen that and decided to withdraw the case and go back and negotiate with government agencies on what they consider a very steep fine to be reduced and maybe given time to pay gradually,” Buhari said.

This move might not go down well with members of the House of Representatives who insisted that MTN must pay the fine.

chika ebuzor