Senate has summoned Adebayo Shittu, minister of communications, and Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the Federation and minister of justice, concerning the claim that MTN Nigeria has paid N50 billion to the Federal Government.
Also to appear before the Senate is Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC); Accountant-General of the Federation and the CEO of MTN Nigeria.
Gilbert Nnaji, chairman, Senate Committee on Communications, contains this in a statement. Those invited are expected to appear before the Committee on March 10, 2016.
The statement entitled: “Urgent legislative intervention on the alleged controversial payment of N50 billion by telecom service provider, MTN, with regard to the fine of N780 billion imposed on it by NCC” was dated March 3, this year.
The committee observed that in the course of its oversight function, specifically in relation to the sanction of N780 billion imposed on MTN, the NCC could not offer any proof of receiving money from MTN.
It said that curiously, it was reported that MTN was rather misguided to lodge the said N50 billion into the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Recovery Account, which is specially designated for recovered stolen funds.
The committee stressed that such payment ought to have passed through NCC instead of circumventing the regulatory agency in the overall process.
It said that as part of its statutory obligations, the Committee has risen to the challenge of comprehensively reviewing the circumstances surrounding the entire process with a view to setting the records straight.
The statement read in part, “The attention of the Senate Committee on Communications has been drawn to widespread media publications, particularly quoting the Honourable Minister of Communication Technology, Adebayo Shittu, as claiming that the Mobile Telecommunications Network, MTN, Nigeria Limited has made a down payment of N50 billion to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), relative to the fine of N780 billion that was imposed on the service provider by the agency.
“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.
“For the avoidance of doubt and in the course of the oversight function of the Committee, specifically in relation to the sanction, NCC could not offer any proof of receiving money from MTN.
“Curiously, it was reported that MTN was rather misguided to lodge the said N50 billion into the CBN Recovery Account which is specially designated for the recovered looted funds.”
