Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu has disclosed that the issue of N1.4 trillion fine imposed on MTN Nigeria by the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC is now before President Muhammadu Buhari who will make the final decision on the case.
The Minister made this revelation during the Alliance 4 Affordable Internet Nigeria Coalition conference in Lagos.
He said “I don’t think there is any conflicting position on where government stands on the MTN issue. Recall that there were violations which were established against MTN.
“The violations were to the tune of five million subscribers. There are many countries where subscribers, in the entire country, are not up to half of the five million. In the case of Nigeria, we had more than five million violations.
“However, both the government and MTN are on the same page that rules have been broken in this instance.
“The issue is now before Mr President. He will take the necessary decision at the appropriate time. And the President would do what is best for the public interest,“ the Minister said.
“The good thing is that MTN did not contest the fact that they had violated the regulations and guidelines. They never contested it. They admitted they were at fault. They apologized for their role in the saga and they made a commitment that what happened will never happen again. And of course, they made a plea for review of the payment terms.”
What kind of country are we . Will Nigeria break S.A. law then it will be contemplated whether to pay or not . Do our GovT know what unregistered SIM has caused death kidnappings. This issue has common sense . The full law be applied if not other gsm services will violate our laws and start negotiating. We are actually seen by the SA gov’t as unserious people including the international community. If the fines are not paid mtn will continue to disregard Nigerian subscribers.