The National Assembly is set to go against President Muhammadu Buhari on the N1.04 trillion fine against the mobile network provider MTN for selling unregistered Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM cards).

President Muhamadu Buhari on Tuesday, March 8, directed that the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) should give room for the fine on MTN to be renegotiated.
However, the House of Representative on Wednesday, March 9, insisted that MTN must pay in totality, the N1.04 trillion imposed on it by the NCC in October 2015.
The chairman, committee on communications, Saheed Akinade-Fijabi (APC-Oyo) said that the fine if paid will redefine the relationship between the telecommunications operators and the regulator. He said that the N50 billion paid by MTN as a down payment for negotiations out of court was not adequate to make up for allegedly undermining government’s efforts to tackle security challenges in the country.

“The law is there to serve as deterrent for you not to go against them.” MTN has been trying to circumvent the process and find a way of running away from the law instead of them facing the music.” A member of the committee, Johnson Agbonayinman (PDP-Edo) said that MTN violated sections 19 and 20 of the Telephone Subscribers Regulations under the Communications Act 2010. Section 19 of the Act reads: “Any licensee who fails to capture register, deregister or transmit the details of every individual or corporate subscriber to the central data base as specified in the regulation or as may be stipulated from time to time by the Commission is liable to a penalty of N200 000 for each subscription medium.

“Therefore MTN’s failure to deactivate 5.2million SIM cards should be liable to a fine of N2.8 trillion,’’ Agbonayinman said. However, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta said that the commission was committed to ensuring compliance by telecommunication operators to register all SIM cards in the country. “SIM card registration is a continuous process. There is ongoing registration exercise by all operators and NCC will do enforcement checking to ensure compliance,’’ he said. Meanwhile, he said that NCC was not in receipt of the N50 billion so far paid by MTN.
“I do not know the account where the money was paid into. The commission only received a letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation indicating that MTN had paid the amount into the federal government account,’’ Danbatta said.

In a related development, the Senate summoned the minister of communication technology, Adebayo Shittu and the attorney general and minister of justice, Abubakar Malami, to explain their roles on the reported payment of N50 billion out of the N780bn fine on MTN Nigeria. The chairman of the Senate committee on communications, Gilbert Nnaji announced the invitation of the minister as well as the executive vice-chairman of NCC, Umar Garba Danbatta, the accountant-general of the federation, Ahmed Idris and the chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, Phuthuma Nhleko.

Read more: https://www.naij.com/757889-nass-goes-president-buhari-n1-04-mtn-fine.html

Really?? the national assembly is confused

Watching in 3D

For the first time, am not supporting pmb on this.....

The NASS has just woken up to their responsibilities.

The impunity and brazen usurpation of judiciary and the legislature by the hollow-looking and junketing Duara herdsman has got to be checked.

mrphysics:
Really?? the national assembly is confused

What makes them confuse.

idiotic of the FG.

Mtn must pay our fine!
Anyway,Nigeria sai Buhari.

Should we believe that this people are fighting for us?? Or Saraki and his GANG are trying to fight BUHARI??

evy1:
What makes them confuse.

You are asking??

If MTN choose to leave, you guys will say PMB is scaring away Foreign investors, now that he want to make Nigeria a good place for them to work, NASS is moving against him simply because they are interested in the money.

mrphysics:

You are asking??

If MTN choose to leave, you guys will say PMB is scaring away Foreign investors, now that he want to make Nigeria a good place for them to work, NASS is moving against him simply because they are interested in the money.

Bro it will be wise if mtn leave. so a Nigerian company can take its place. Do you kno how much the south African company take away to south Africa from Nigerian economy.

A working government should restrict some sector of the economy to Nigerians and Nigerian companies

Ejanla07:


Bro it will be wise if mtn leave. so a Nigerian company can take its place. Do you kno how much the south African company take away to south Africa from Nigerian economy.

A working government should restrict some sector of the economy to Nigerians and Nigerian companies

No, MTN is still the best network, left for glo or etisalat, call rate would have been very high. it's still you guys that will criticise buhari for sending them away.

Naija

mrphysics:


No, MTN is still the best network, left for glo or etisalat, call rate would have been very high. it's still you guys that will criticise buhari for sending them away.

Naija

Believe me. I have both mtn and etisalat..
Etisalat beat mtn

Network
Incentives
Call rate.


I only respect mtn wit coverage

Ejanla07:




Believe me. I have both mtn and etisalat..
Etisalat beat mtn

Network
Incentives
Call rate.


I only respect mtn wit coverage

Oga, I have all of them. infact I have three MTN Sims. How can you compare etisalat with MTN, it's like comparing death with sleep. MTN beat all of them

Imortal001:
For the first time, am not supporting pmb on this.....

e too, but dont you think he is trying to secure the jobs of nigerians working with for mtn, by extention the business community in s africa?

Imortal001:
For the first time, am not supporting pmb on this.....

me too, but dont you think he is trying to secure the jobs of nigerians working with for mtn, by extention the business community in s africa?

mrphysics:


Oga, I have all of them. infact I have three MTN Sims. How can you compare etisalat with MTN, it's like comparing death with sleep. MTN beat all of them

Lyn is death here right.

The same network dat find it hard to register it's customer base. Do u kno how many times my mother registered her SIM in January

Ejanla07:


Bro it will be wise if mtn leave. so a Nigerian company can take its place. Do you kno how much the south African company take away to south Africa from Nigerian economy.

A working government should restrict some sector of the economy to Nigerians and Nigerian companies

Have glo been able to live up to expectations even in face of competitions? How much more when they become a dominant network?
Besides the market is still open for new investors especially indigenous ones as I know the government will support them to the fullest. But the issue remains if they have what it takes?