Senate says feud between NCC and telecom giant is 'embarrassing'

According to various media reports, the Senate has described the disagreement between the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and MTN Nigeria, over the N780 billion fine imposed on the telecoms firm last year, as embarrassing.

Chairman of Senate Committee on Communication, Gilbert Nnaji, disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Abuja, assuring the general populace that the committee would resolve the matter in a way that all the parties would be happy.

“We have waded into the impasse between NCC and MTN Nigeria, we have started dialogue but it is still an in-house discussion, it will not be made known to the media until we reach a concrete agreement between NCC, MTN and the Senate Committee on Communication. The matter has become very embarrassing, but with dialogue, the matter will be resolved. We don’t want to hear that we are looking for foreign investors in the country and in the other way round, we are chasing them away, we can’t allow that to happen,” Nnaji said.

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The NCC had imposed N1.04 trillion fine on MTN for failing to fully deactivate subscribers with unregistered and incomplete SIM details on its networks within the stipulated time in October, 2015.

The fine was later reduced to N780 billion but MTN dragged government to court over the fine, arguing that the Commission had no power to impose such a heavy fine on it.

The South Africa-based company later made a U-turn on the court decision, asking the court to let it settle the case with the NCC out of court. The presiding judge has adjourned the case till March.