Senate Summons Ministers and MTN over Suspicious N50b fine Payment

Communication Minister, Adebayo Shitty

The Senate Committee on Communications has summoned the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, to appear before it this week to explain the circumstance over the payment of N50bn fine by MTN.
The telecommunication giant was fine N1.04 trillion by the Nigerian authority last year for its failure to deactivate unregistered sim cards in its network.
MTN has opted for an out of court settlement after taking the government to court challenging the fine and it was negotiated to N780b.
However there have been accusations of underhand dealing against government officials when MTN is purported to have paid N50b, a sum far less than the reduced fine of N780.
In a bid to get the true picture of the situation,   the  Communication committee chairman, Gilbert Nnaji said in a letter that his committee had summoned the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta; the Accountant-General of the Federation; and the Chief Executive Officer of MTN to explain their roles in the transaction
“The committee wishes therefore to state clearly that going by the records of the NCC, whose constitutional mandate it is to superintend the mobile network operations in the country, and also in the prevailing circumstance, reserves the sole right on behalf of the Federal Government, to receive payment of any sort; MTN has unfortunately not in any way complied or shown any commitment whatsoever in this regard.”