The $5.2 billion fine imposed on MTN by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) six weeks ago over regulatory infraction has not been waived, the Federal Government said yesterday.
There have been speculations that talks on waiving the fine for the MTN may be on the agenda in the meeting between presidents Muhammad Buhari and Jacobs Zuma of South Africa when the former visits the latter later during the week.
But the Minister of Communication, Barrister Adebayo Shittu and the NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Danbatta both insisted at separate interviews with journalists in Abuja yesterday that the federal government’s decision on the fine has not changed.
“What has happened is like a court judgment; once a court judgment is in place, unless it is reviewed, it remains the valid judgment. The fine has not been reviewed”, the minister said yesterday on the sideline of a National Cybercrime workshop in Abuja.
Shittu said though there have been appeals to President Buhari that the fine be waived, the President is yet to take a decision on it.
So Nigerians should await the decision of the president on the matter, the minister said, adding that the decision that would be taken would be in the interest of Nigeria.
Prof. Danbatta stated that though the payment deadline had long expired, the fine issue is still being given the deserved attention by the NCC.
“It is still receiving attention and that’s all. What we did was to write to them to acknowledge the letter they wrote to the Commission. Their letter, among other things, admitted committing the breach. The letter also contained an undertaking to be of good conduct and good regulatory behavior, and an apology to the Nigerian people, as well solicitation for, if you like, leniency on the fine. So these three things or four are receiving attention. We wrote to acknowledge the receipt of the letter in order to ensure there are no further sanctions on non-compliance on the deadline”, the NCC boss said.
No comments:
Post a Comment