₦airaland Forum

Acidosis:
Nigerians are generally incompetent and corrupt. MTN operates in about 5 countries. Why is this happening only in Nigeria? Its simple, because the CEO is a Nigerian. No Nigerian will ever rise to that seat ever again.

You head dey there.
The group will micromanage the Nigerian operation for the next 10 years. Even to buy printer toner, they will need to get approval from group board.

Brandnew2:
Heads are rolling I guess.


Meanwhile Standards organization of Nigerian SON should look into this menace of substandard tech accessories being sold in the market. http://gidilink..com.ng/2015/11/all-this-fake-memory-cards.html

Below is a 2 and 8 GB memory card that got corrupted within 1 week while i lost sensitive information on it.

So painful.

SON is the most substandard Nigerian govt agency.

irondome:
Imagine such a warped line of reasoning. That goes a long way to show the kind of person the guy is; stealing is good as long as a fraction of the money is used to feed the needy. Are Skye bank, UBA and FirstBank the only banks with MDA accounts? Why did others obey while these ones decided to flout a presidential directive. Arrant nonsense.

I just read some things online and wonder if these are professional trolls?
It had better be because if these thoughts are real then society is more messed up than imagined.

erekoshe:
Was I talking to you bro?

Nevertheless, let's talk about your points.
Should we find a saint before we start adhering to simple rules? NO but let's make it a level playing ground, let's punish all offenders. Are we doing that? NO. There are some sacred cows.. (Won't share details)

The CBN has bruised several of her own orders, they've messed the sector up several times and are even responsible for several decline in the economy. Who'll punish them?? What do you know of the central bank activities, go review access and intercontinental brawl, oceanic sales, Amcon and even NIBBS activities, or check out the BVN messed up DB where ur name and face on the DB don't correlate, lest I forget the Heidal project. Dude, you don't know jack abt the CBN so shut up.

Fine doesn't really solve problem, it create greater and smarter thieves. Find the root cause of a problem and fix it before fining. Close the loopholes.

Was I talking to you bro?

Is this a rhetorical question? This is a forum not your WhatsApp group.

Nevertheless, let's talk about your points.
Should we find a saint before we start adhering to simple rules? NO but let's make it a level playing ground, let's punish all offenders. Are we doing that? NO. There are some sacred cows.. (Won't share details).
If you won't share details, then I can't discuss the point with you. As far as it is known in the public domain, everyone found hiding funds against TSA has being punished and the punishment has been uniform. If 1st bank and UBA can be punished I struggle to see the sacred cow in view.

The CBN has bruised several of her own orders, they've messed the sector up several times and are even responsible for several decline in the economy. Who'll punish them?? What do you know of the central bank activities, go review access and intercontinental brawl, oceanic sales, Amcon and even NIBBS activities, or check out the BVN messed up DB where ur name and face on the DB don't correlate, lest I forget the Heidal project.
You have made valid but largely irrelevant points to the issue at stake. It is like saying because the referee in a premiership match made a wrong call in the 12th minute, he has lost the right to make a right and stringent call in the 31st. None of the issues you have raised negates the enforcement of rules as it concerns TSA. It is like saying a thief should be pardoned because the whistleblower is an adulterer.

Dude, you don't know jack abt the CBN so shut up.
Stop throwing tantrums like a 6 year old (I assume you are not one). You know very little and it is obvious. I am open to learn from others but you so far you have failed to make sense.



Fine doesn't really solve problem, it create greater and smarter thieves. Find the root cause of a problem and fix it before fining. Close the loopholes.
Fine is not meant to solve a problem, it is made to deter law breakers. What root cause? you were asked to transfer money and you hid some. A fine was imposed. What else do you want CBN to do? Conduct deliverance on bank treasurers?

...

Atlantian:
Skye Bank will lay off 4000 staff, increase interest rate, COT and other sundry charges. Guess who the real loser is. Listen, Buhari is being timid by these fiscal threats on employers of labour, instead of focusing attention on how to diversifiy economy.

There is an inherent daftness in your post.
So we should just allow organizations to flout laid down rules and regulations?
Do you understand that this act of undeclaring funds is fraud in its true sense?
What has that got to do with diversifying the economy?
So because they will increase arbitrarily COT (which is not possible as charges are regulated), they should be allowed to fraudulently hide funds?
Do you see the illogical premise of your argument?

erekoshe:
First of all, fraud is in every facet of the economy, I'm not supporting it though. But a judge need to be clean before crucifying criminals. Let him who is without ain cast the first stone.

The banks are fraudulent and so is the regulatory body.. Let the regulatory body clean herself then clean the banks... Cleaning the banks is fine if well managed and properly done

You are not making sense.
So we should seat with hands akimbo until we find a saint before we start adhering to simple rules and regulations?
What sort of chaos are you suggesting?
The next logical question is ensuring that the fines are used judiciously. Organisations should learn to play by the rules. Caught thieves should be dealt with. No need for waiting for saints before we start punishing infractions. The existence of other thieves is no excuse for stealing.

Joygalore:
Nothing like happiness in a marriage.

Lovely

and you deduced all that from this birthday social media post?

christejames:
So these corporate men in suit are also thieves and engage in fraudulent activities? ...the fine by CBN is even small, while not do it the MTN way?

Nigerian banks are run by fraudsters.
Why not just sack the board?

08 Nov 2015
http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/tsa-cbn-fines-skye-bank-n4bn-for-concealing-mdas-funds/225038/

Bank accused of shrouding N40bn until discovered by CBN examiners

Tokunbo Adedoja

Less than two weeks after it sanctioned two major banks for flouting Federal Government directives on Treasury Single Account, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has imposed a fine of N4 billion on Skye Bank for concealing funds belonging to Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs).


In a circular from CBN, addressed to the Chairman, Board of Directors of Skye Bank, the apex bank slapped Skye Bank with a fine of N4,005,228,976.35, which it said represents 10 percent of the concealed funds belonging to Federal Government MDAs.
The circular said the amount would be debited from Skye Bank’s current account with CBN.


The CBN circular obtained by THISDAY from industry sources, showed that Skye Bank failed to report MDAs’ balances amounting to N40,052,289,769.47, as at October 23, 2015, more than a month after the TSA deadline had expired.


The Federal Government had directed that balances/receipts due to the government or its agencies be paid into a TSA domiciled in the CBN except otherwise expressly approved. The TSA is a bank account or a set of linked bank accounts through which the government transacts all its receipts and payments and gets a consolidated view of its cash position at any given time. A September 15 deadline was given for full compliance with the directive.


CBN's hammer had earlier fallen on two major banks - First Bank of Nigeria Limited (FirstBank) and United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc for failing to comply with the directive on TSA. While a fine of N1,877,409,905.12 was imposed on FirstBank, UBA was fined N2,942,189,651.45.


The fines imposed on the two banks represented 5% of unremitted funds.
Unlike UBA and First Bank that were sanctioned two weeks ago, a higher percentage (10%) of fine was imposed on Skye Bank because it shrouded the MDAs' funds until the funds were uncovered by CBN examiners during a visit to the bank.


While notifying Skye Bank of the fine, the apex bank’s circular signed by the Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, noted an October 14, 2015 request by its Director of Banking Supervision, Mrs. Tokunbo Martins, for information on Skye Bank’s total amount remitted and unremitted to TSA in a prescribed format with a submission deadline of 12pm, October 15, 2015.


It however stated that the bank’s initial submission on “15th October 2015 in respect of the information requested indicated unremitted amount of N442, 916,642.92, a rendition which was false as your bank failed to report FGN MDAs’ balances amounting to N40,052,289,769.47 as at 23rd October 2015.”
The unreported sum, it said, was unearthed during CBN examiners’ onsite visit to Skye Bank on October 26, thereby aggravating the offence.


“The fact that it took CBN Examiner's visit to your bank before this was unearthed is unacceptable,” the circular stated.
CBN also issued a strong warning to the board of the bank to desist from allowing a similar situation to reoccur as such would be met with stiffer sanctions.


“For the avoidance of doubt, the CBN shall continue to frown at incidences of non-rendition of returns, late or false/inaccurate returns, other false/inaccurate information or any infraction whatsoever. The CBN shall, in such instances, impose sanctions as appropriate,” it further stated, signaling a stricter regulatory regime where deliberate breaches would not be tolerated.


THISDAY had exclusively reported three weeks ago that two prominent banks faced sanctions for circumventing the presidential directive on Treasury Single Account (TSA). The THISDAY report had noted that CBN was considering imposing a hefty financial sanction, suspension or removal of the CEOs, and the dissolution of the board of directors.


A week after the report, the central bank imposed a N4billion sanction on First Bank and UBA for concealing funds belonging to Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).


The Federal Government directive on TSA had sent shock waves around the financial sector due to the huge government deposits in commercial banks that would be affected by the policy as fears mounted that it would further tighten liquidity.


Some banks had tried to hide under the authorisation letter from the Accountant-General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris, who tried to exempt certain agencies, and were using that as a basis not to comply with the TSA.
But CBN, in line with its September 9 circular, restated its resolve to punish any commercial bank that failed to comply with the policy on the TSA.


CBN however moved to ease liquidity in the banking system, in response to a severe liquidity squeeze in the interbank market at the last meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee by ensuring that the Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) remained unchanged at 13 per cent+/- 200 basis points around the symmetric corridor and also reduced Cash Reserve Requirement (CRR) from 31 per cent to 25 per cent to reflate banking sector liquidity.

08 Nov 2015

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/virgin-atlantic-may-have-pulled-out-of-nigeria/225033/
There are indications that UK mega carrier, Virgin Atlantic Airways, may have pulled out of Nigeria, sacking all Nigerian cabin crew and closed down its call centre.

But spokesperson of the airline in Nigeria, Kudirat Scott-Igbene, argued that the airline was only closing down its crew base in Lagos as it would no longer be required for its Lagos route.

“We have decided that we will no longer have crew based in Lagos. This is by no means a reflection on our Lagos based cabin crew, the primary purpose of our locally based cabin crew has been to provide cultural expertise, and customer feedback has shown us that this is no longer a requirement on the Lagos route.

“The additional complexity required to operate an international crew base where there are no foreign language requirement means it is no longer sustainable going forward,” she said.

Scott-Igbene also noted: “This announcement has no impact on our flying programme and we plan to continue flights between Lagos and London. After 14 years flying the route, we remain committed to servicing the Nigerian people, whether it be for business, family or education.”

But informed source insisted that the airline is actually withdrawing its operations from Nigeria and had started the process few years ago.

Some months ago, the airline moved its communications and human relations department from Nigeria to South Africa, an action that infuriated its ardent customers.

The report also insisted Virgin Atlantic Airways has laid off all its Nigerian cabin crew and were only given three weeks’ notice and no severance package regardless of their length of service would be paid.

According to the reports, the air hostesses the airline sacked were about 20 and last year, they closed down their Nigerian call centre and dismissed all the Nigerian staff.

The Chairman of the company, Richard Branson, had said sometime in 2012, he was weary about doing business in Nigeria.

Here is an extract from a statement Richard Branson issued in 2012 in reaction to the failed Virgin Nigeria project, which it partnered Nigeria to establish.

“We fought daily battle against government agents who wanted to daily make fortune from us, politicians who saw the government 49 per cent as a meal to seek for all kinds of favour…watchdogs (regulatory body) that didn’t know what to do and persistently asking for bribes at any point…Nigerian people are generally nice but the politicians are very insane…that may be irony because the people make up the politicians.

“But those politicians are selfish…we did make N3 billion for the Federal Government of Nigeria during the joint venture…realising that the government didn’t bring nothing to the table/partnership except dubious debts by the previous carrier, Nigeria Airways…The joint venture should have been the biggest African carrier by now if the partnership was allowed to grow, but the politicians killed it…Nigeria is a country we shall never consider to doing business again.”

Perhaps the final decision to pull out of Nigerian may not be unconnected to the fact that the business class market is shrinking in the country as the new administration led by Muhammadu Buhari has tightened the noose around corruption and lack of transparency both in government and in business, so there is no more free monies at the behest of top politicians and businessmen and women.

The consequence of this development is that Virgin Nigeria Airways, which thrives in its luxurious business cabin may have lost significant load factor and has seen in the horizon that the glory days of flaunting exorbitant taste by Nigerians is over.

Besides, Medview Airline, a Nigerian carrier has just announced that from November 20 it would start flights to London, thus making the route more competitive.

TonyeBarcanista:
A welcome development. I urge others to follow suit so as to create room for young Nigerians to take the lead and take the party to greater height. God bless Koro! God Bless PDP! God Bless Nigeria

You will not ask him to o account for the election funds GEJ gave him fo Lagos state before his temporary exit?

This silly idea that posting pics with your child on social media makes you a good father is gaining ground.
I hope only few people are swayed by such silly posts?

ODUBEZE:
Abi the couple don confess to U say them no dey do anything before you go kill yourself for another person matter.

Did they confess to you that they are doing anything?
Or you think everyone is doing it cos you are doing it?

benvolavolarag:
I THINK MTN MUST MOVE OUT OF nigeria. I THINK THIS IS THE RIGHT TIME TO FUVK OFF JUST LIKE WOOLIES.
nigeria IS BROKE HENCE THEYR TRYING TO FINE BANKS AND FOREIGN INVESTORS.

I cant wait to see their FDI for 2015 and beyond after this.

you are a funny clown.
Move out of Nigeria because they broke laws?

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/is-apc-ready-for-leadership-/224740/
The process by which boiled yam is turned into pounded yam may not be complicated. But it is such that by the time it is done, the end product (pounded yam) could only be mildly hot. That then explains why the Yoruba adage that “a pounded yam of three years can still burn to touch” is very deep indeed. And that perhaps is the best way to understand the current ordeal of the former Niger Delta Minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe, who would be arraigned before the Code of Conduct Tribunal next week.

Whatever may be the merit of the case against the former Minister, not a few Nigerians remember that on March 30 this year, Orubebe made a public nuisance of himself at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) collation centre, in a futile bid to scuttle the announcement of the presidential election result that was going against his candidate and then incumbent, Dr Goodluck Jonathan. Although he failed spectacularly, that “pounded yam” of more than seven months ago may now be too hot for Orubebe’s fingers to handle!

I must make this very clear: I am not in any way exonerating Orubebe of the bribe-for-contract (allegedly to a man who carries the title of Pastor!) charge levelled against him. He has to defend that allegation among other charges. However, the real issue for me is not what Orubebe did or did not do with public money (that is now a subject for the CCT to decide), but rather his comportment in office. There are codes of behaviour for senior public officials that Orubebe serially violated in an era notorious for gross impunity. The message here therefore is that what the former minister did on March 30 was not an isolated incident; it was a culmination of a pattern of bad behaviour that others in similar positions would do well to avoid.

In my column on this page on 15 September, 2011, titled “Bash Ali, Orubebe and Wikileaks”, I used the example of the then Niger Delta Minister to explain why some public officials sell our country cheap by the way they conduct themselves. Going through the piece at the weekend, I concluded that it is worth re-publishing because it is one that would serve the next crop of ministers in a new administration that comes with the mantra of “Change”.

Whenever the Federal Executive Council is eventually inaugurated, what is now clear is that those men and women cannot continue with the template of the past. That is the kernel of the recollection of the column, written on this page more than four years ago. While Orubebe will have his day in court, hopefully next week, there are lessons that the ministers of President Buhari must learn from the piece, especially now that everything in Nigeria revolves around corruption:

==========================

Bash Ali:Godsday, we included in the budget the fight and land cost for the 9 sports academies in Nigeria with 3 of your directors at the meeting. And I have always told you that this GWR fight must be done TRANSPARENTLY because apart from the honour and glory that it will bring to Nigeria, there is a lot of PPV fight money which we can all benefit from. Is doing a TRANSPARENT business at your ministry a fake thought that calls for the examination of my head? What happened to the money that was included in the budget? Did you divert it?

Orubebe:I thought you were reasonable but had to withdraw because I realized you are not coordinated, you have a loose and porous mindset and living in the air. (April 23, 2011)

Bash Ali: You withdrew and sent me back to the NSC because I insisted on a TRANSPARENT deal and now have the audacity to insult me. This is the second time you have said I am living in the air for believing a TRANSPARENT deal can be done at your ministry in particular and Nigeria in general. Do you know that out of 150 million Nigerians, I am one out of less than 5,000 Nigerians that have a national honour, do you know that I am an Officer of the Order of the Niger, OON?

Orubebe: OON, a disgrace. I will ensure that you are removed from the honours list. I promise you that. (April 24, 2011)


Bash Ali: That is an empty talk. I got my OON on merit, so a million Godsday cannot take it away. Why are you preventing me from doing more great things for Nigeria and getting the highest national honour possible? Why? Must corruption always win?


Orubebe: There will be no room for your apology and begging when we set up government without you. (April 28, 2011)

Bash Ali: Godsday, it is you that must apologise and beg me to forgive you for being rude and talking trash. Set up government without me? What a joke!! If I am a fool for insisting that the boxing deal must be TRANSPARENT then I don’t want to be wise and above all, I gave Jonathan my mandate, not Godsday.

Orubebe: Big fool. Why can’t you stop deceiving yourself? I am sorry for your children and family for having a stupid father who does not understand the times. (July 9, 2011)

Bash Ali: Godsday, does understanding the times mean you have to be corrupt? I was just thinking, why can’t we do a TRANSPARENT business where we can all come out WINNERS? Let us contribute our quota to make Nigeria great, please. Let us help our brother, Jonathan to succeed, please.

Orubebe: It’s like you are in love with Orubebe, remove shame and come, I will forgive you and teach you to be a responsible man like me. (July 10, 2011)

Bash Ali: I cannot be in love with a man who has an arid vision for Nigeria. What shame? And forgive me for insisting on a TRANSPARENT business? Does being corrupt make a man like you responsible? I feel sorry for Nigerians, Jonathan.

Orubebe: Your foolishness has made you not to know that this is the man that can bail you out of your blindness and frustration. Time is clicking. Don’t make me change my mind again. (July10, 2011)

Bash Ali: You are the foolish and blind man who wants to continue to steal from government because you are in power. I will never again deal with you unless I get instruction from Jonathan. You are right, time is clicking because very soon, I will lead a revolution that will remove corrupt people like you from government and if I die in the process, nothing can be more redemptive.

Orubebe:How can you be afraid to die when you have nothing to offer to Nigeria? (July 10, 2011)

Bash Ali: I have contributed more to the betterment of Nigeria than you. I have spent millions of Naira to promote sports and NEVER asked government for a kobo despite being frustrated by a corrupt man like you.

Orubebe: Come and take one very small contract to survive (July 13, 2011)

Bash Ali: Give the very small contract to survive to your corrupt friends in government.

Orubebe: If you are a fool at this age, am sorry for your children and family. I will tell your children to deny you. Big FOOL. (July 15, 2011)

Bash Ali: From your action and text messages, you have shown Jonathan that he made a big mistake by appointing an idiot like you as a minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. A revolution is coming and it will sweep you out of office.

Orubebe: It’s like you have no job. I would have taken you as an aide but you don’t have the brains. Sorry, too bad. Yours is a hopeless case. (July 15, 2011)

Bash Ali: I am a world boxing champion and a national honour holder but your corrupt government has made me jobless, frustrated and hopeless but my brain is intact for a REVOLUTION that would remove you from office. Mark my word.

Orubebe:I thought your head was getting normal. Oh sorry, I have volunteered to take you to Uselu at my own cost to bring you to normalcy. Foolish man, stupid man, crazy man, nuisance to society. Waste to our generation. Uselu is your rightful home. (Sept 1, 2011)

The foregoing is an abridged version of the text messages between Niger Delta Minister, Elder Godsday Orubebe and renowned boxing champion, Bash Ali beginning from April until the first week of this month (September 2011). It was first published last Thursday in “TheNation” newspaper with an accompanying interview by my friend and one of Nigeria’s best reporters, Yusuf Alli, who spoke with both Orubebe and Bash Ali. The text messages speak volume about the character and temperament of our senior public office holders and help to explain why WikiLeaks reports (of United States’ diplomatic cables) about our country have been so damaging.

Now, what is the story behind this altercation? Even without any investigation, I have an idea about what happened because it is a familiar tale. Since the President Olusegun Obasanjo administration, Bash Ali has been writing any and every Nigerian president that he wants to stage a Guinness book of World Record fight in the country on the basis of the old age which he touts. Whenever a president gets that letter, he minutes it to an appropriate ministry while a standard courtesy letter is written to Bash Ali to liaise with the ministry. With that letter, woe betides whoever he is directed to meet. Of course most officials who get the letter don’t place much premium on it but once you have been unlucky to have given audience to Bash Ali, then you are in trouble. I know many officials who have unpleasant tales to tell after meeting him.

While I am almost certain that is also the experience of Orubebe, what the exchanges show is the immaturity of our officials because not only is the language deployed by the Minister in his text messages shameful, he also should have seen how Bash Ali was cleverly leading him on in the conversation. Consistently, Bash Ali was reinforcing the charge of corruption against Orubebe who was all the while abusing the man oblivious to the fact that in this information age, he was unwittingly putting himself on record without even dismissing the allegation. Now that Ali has put the text messages in the public domain I will not be surprised if one Polsec (whatever that means) at the American embassy writes a dispatch to say “Nigerian Minister demands bribe to stage boxing tournament”!

In their piece, “How Public Officials Can Avoid E-Mail and Texting Liability Landmines”, Patrick J. Harvey and Ballard Spahr warned that public officials should always assume that all e-mails and mobile telephone text messages will eventually become public and that they should never use a text message to rant unless the person is ‘comfortable with it being printed in his/her local newspaper or enlarged on a poster board in court as a litigation exhibit’.

But our public officials have not learnt any lesson in what they put down in writing and what they say some of which is now coming back to haunt many of them given the expose of the United States diplomatic cables that WikiLeaks has put in the public arena. The more I read the cables emanating from the American embassy in Nigeria the more I realise the damage that our officials have done to the image of the country. Now, there are two variants to the cables published by WikiLeaks. Some dispatches were based on the ‘information’ independently sourced by the officials which were not credited to any sources and then there were those based on the subtle debriefing of our important personalities and public officials. The latter is what I am concerned about because from what transpired in most cases, it would seem these officials just let loose without realising they were being recorded.

The main reason why many of our officials become unguarded and irresponsible when discussing corruption in our country with foreign dignitaries is to put on a self-righteous image so as to present themselves as saints. It is then no surprise that whenever you see a top Nigerian official in the midst of Western diplomats and he or she is asked a simple question as to what challenge our nation is facing, the instant response would be ‘corruption’. It doesn’t matter that the person speaking could have houses all over the world and be sitting atop stupendous wealth that cannot be explained. As we can glimpse from the wikiLeak reports, almost all the officials encountered by the diplomats pointed the finger of corruption at others except themselves.

Incidentally, we are a nation where every official from local government to the presidency is ‘fighting corruption’ yet questions remain as to who actually is doing the corruption. In my piece published on October 1 last year to mark Nigeria’s 50th Independence anniversary, I made allusion to this disposition by Nigerian officials and to illustrate my point I used the African folklore of three famished brothers eating from the same plate of food not enough to satiate their hunger. Apparently losing out in the game of greed, the first brother remarked but to no one in particular: ‘you are eating too fast’. To this the second brother responded: ‘so you saw him’. The third brother completed the farce: ‘That was exactly what I wanted to say’!

That kind of posture accounts for most of the negative things we now read about our country based on WikiLeaks reports but if there is any lesson that we can learn it is that officials can no longer afford to be careless with information, and that goes with what they say and what they put down in writing. Letting down their guards and allowing themselves to be used as spies just because they were invited to a cocktail by a clerical staff at the American embassy just shows the character of most of our public officials. But the reason many sold themselves and the nation cheap was because they never in their wildest imagination thought that what they said in secret would ever be out in the open. How naïve they were!

I hope we have all learnt sufficient lessons from the WikiLeaks saga as to how we should comport ourselves when discussing with foreigners just as I believe Orubebe would also have taken note that in this information age, every careless and irresponsible text message will one day be accounted for. And the price for that could be very high.

Tallesty1:
80%.....? I don't think its gonna be possible.

The fine is too much and I pray they get it slashed at least by 50%

Most of us do not seem to understand the origin of this fine.
ALL TELCOs signed an MOU with NCC years back saying 200k will be the fine for every SIM that is unregistered after the grace period.
MTN set the deadline, all complied and MTN did not.
Where exactly is the room for slashing?
Were they forced to not comply?
Were they unaware of what they signed?

viickerz:
i hav a crush on you, but u are older than i am, and probably married

This is a serious one o. Let us await her response.

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/mtn-wants-5-2bn-fine-slashed-by-80-/224744/
05 Nov 2015


MTN Group Ltd in South Africa is making some moves to get the $5.2 billion fine imposed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) reduced by as much as 80 per cent and it is considering borrowing money from banks to help settle the penalty, should its request for fine reduction sail through.

Bloomberg reported that the head of research of Renaissance Capital (RenCap) in Nigeria, Mr. Adesoji Solanke, shared a note with clients on Wednesday, where he said: “MTN is pushing to reduce the fine by 60 per cent to 80 per cent.”

According to Bloomberg, a second lender said: “MTN is considering borrowing from banks, as it recently checked what the banks’ lending capacity to it is."

It however quoted MTN's Group spokesman, Chris Maroleng, as saying: “We don’t comment on banking matters, and banking regulators in Nigeria are best placed to provide context on these matters.”

It also quoted the Director of Public Affairs of NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, as saying: “I don’t have that information.”

MTN has until November 16, 2015, to pay the penalty, which relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million subscribers and is based on a charge of N200,000 for each unregistered customer.

Should the telecom giant’s request be granted, the fine may be reduced by as much as $4.16 billion, which represents 80 per cent of the fine. That will leave a balance of $1.04 billion.
Meanwhile, the NCC has confirmed that it had received an apology letter from MTN, asking for leniency over the fine. NCC said it was not in doubt whether MTN would pay the fine, since it has to do with the law, which MTN was part of the signatories.

NCC however said that having received the apology letter, it would proceed to discuss it with the Chief of Staff to President Muhammadu Buhari, where a decision on the matter would be taken.

"We have received the apology letter from MTN, but it is not in our position to take decision on it, since the matter is being handled by the Presidency," a source from NCC told THISDAY.

In a related development, the South African lawmakers are planning to summon MTN Group Ltd. officials to explain why MTN Nigeria was fined $5.2 billion by Nigeria’s telecoms industry regulator for failing to disconnect customers with unregistered SIM cards.

According to Bloomberg, the Chairwoman of South African Parliament’s telecommunications committee, Nkhensani Kubayi, said on phone from Cape Town yesterday that "the fine is a worrying issue" that demands explanation from MTN Group.

The panel also intends summoning the South African industry regulator to determine whether MTN is compliant with local rules, with hearings likely to take place next year, she said, according to Bloomberg.

Nigeria is Johannesburg-based MTN’s biggest market with 62 million clients as of September this year.

MTN is being advised by some unidentified banks as the company pleads its case with the regulator, according to Solanke. A decision to borrow would be one of financial management rather than an indication of stress, he said

However, MTN shares gained as much as 4.1 per cent and traded 3.5 per cent higher at 160.89 rand yesterday in Johannesburg. The stock is down 27 per cent this year, valuing the company at 297 billion rand ($21.5 billion).

I have been calling the number but it is switched off.

Public Accounts (Andy Ubah)


Painful joke. This band of clown never cease to amaze sane minds.

ODUBEZE:
Them don dey umuah umuah self before marriage. I am sure abstinence is not preached in the Church.
Gods' standard does not change ooooo

so every umuah umuah dey lead to non-abstinence?
Your gutter mind needs renewing. You sound like a fellow with no self-control.

brainiac007:
Kenneth Okonkwo is married to the daughter of the general overseer of CPM, the Ezekiels

that marriage packed up a while back

Ursino:
I love this Bishop. Never knew he has an only daughter. Can u imagine! And he is content. What an epitome of humility!

You sound daft.
How does having only one child equate to humility, much less its epitome?

ceeceeuwa:
So I thought too. Or was it a rumor then?

confusing her with CPM GO's child.
That marriage has packed up though.

the next thing to shut down is amnesty program

As i say, Buhari is the punishment we get from Karma for the cluelessness of GEJ for 6 years.
Anything would have been better than a repeat of GEJ.

DeeTus:
A married woman? Hahaha. So bad. It could have been a lot better if she's single.

What a shame!!

Will you say same for a married man?

Daniyemi:
If this is true, what the hell is the woman going to tell her husband? .

Just three weeks and you can't be faithful? #disgusted!

She will claim she was framed by a camp official who was making passes at her.

Vado:
Nigga was just coming back from Quinox lol.

You are the most intelligent poster here.

logica:
It's the mark of the beast!

which beast?