In what is his first public statement on the issue, President Muhammadu Buhari has weighed in on the $5.2 billion fine imposed on MTN Nigeria for failing to delist 200,000 improperly registered SIM cards.
President Buhari said his administration was not concerned about the magnitude of the penalty but the security implication of non-compliance to the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that all improperly registered SIM cards must be deregistered.
The president disclosed this in a joint press conference with visiting South African President, Jacob Zuma at the State House, Abuja.
Also, he stated that MTN’s failure to heed the directive led to 10,000 deaths due to Boko Haram attacks.
He noted that Boko Haram insurgents were taking advantage of the company’s failure to heed the directive by making use of unregistered SIM cards in coordinating attacks that led to the high rate of casualties recorded.
Buhari said that necessitated the government’s decision not to intervene, but to let the regulatory body and security agencies handle the matter in their own way.
The president said it was regrettable that the company had dragged the relevant bodies to court over the matter in the first place, but added that it could now approach the bodies for an amicable resolution.
This, he said, could either be how to negotiate a reduction or spread the payment of the fine in instalments.
Recall that the fine had been reduced from the initial $5.2 billion to $3.9 billion, after series of negotiations between relevant parties in the matter.