Digital switch-over: Pinnacle absolves self of fraud allegation

Mon, Nov 19, 2018 | By publisher


Business

Pinnacle Communications Limited on Sunday absolved the firm of alleged complicity and misapplication of money meant for the implementation of the digital switch-over (DSO) project.

Pinnacle Communications Limited is the private licensed signal distributor for the Federal Government’s approved implementation of the Transition from Analogue to Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) Broadcasting in Nigeria.

Mr Dipo Onifade, the Chief Operating Officer, Pinnacle Communications, in a statement dismissed as untrue the media reports linking it with the allegation that N2.5 billion seed grant released to the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) for the project had been misapplied.

Onifade said that the firm has always been transparent in all its dealings with the NBC and it has discharged its obligations on the digital switch-over project in compliance with the terms and conditions of the contract.

“To this extent therefore, all transactions between NBC and Pinnacle Communications have always been transparent and within the official approved operational guidelines and regulations as processed and executed by the NBC and in compliance with the  terms and conditions of Pinnacle Communications.

“It became necessary to make the clarifications in view of the deliberate omission and distortion in the media reports that were based on the statement purportedly issued by ICPC spokesperson, Rasheedat Okoduwa.

“The media reports said that the Commission was investigating NBC, its Director General, Dr Ishaq Moddibbo Kawu, and other top management staff of the agency over their alleged involvements in the misapplication of the of N2.5 billion seed grant, ” he said.

Onifade said their company was the only private licensed signal distributor for the DSO initiative in accordance with the 2012 Government White Paper under section 11.2 (a) which approved that “more than one signal distributor be licensed in addition to NTA, the public licensed signal distributor.

He added that the firm was awarded the licence in 2014 having emerged the successful bidder out of nine companies that participated in the rigorous public tender and in full compliance with due process requirements.

According to Onifade, the company had been a major facilitator of the Digital Switch Over (DSO) implementation process in Nigeria, notably as the broadcast signal distributor for the National Launch of the DSO in Abuja in 2016 at its state-of-the-art Broadcast Centre on Mpape Hill.

He said that the launch was performed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.

“The Company was also responsible for the Kaduna Digital Broadcast Signal Distribution Centre commissioned in 2017 by the Kaduna State Governor, His Excellency, Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai, Onifade added.

Onifade dismissed the alleged statements attributed to the ICPC spokesperson that the company was “fraudulently recommended to the Minister of Information and Culture for the release of N2.5 billion against the guidelines contained in the White Paper” and further reference to Pinnacle Communications as “an unqualified company.

“The 2014 licensing of Pinnacle Communications in the DSO predates the appointment of the current director- general of NBC in 2016, ” he said.

Onifade noted that DTT Broadcast Engineering is a field in which it has earned recognition and patronage for more than two decades of expertise and dependability of world class service and installations across Nigeria.

He also dismissed the confusion created by the ICPC spokesperson saying, “Neither the DSO nor Pinnacle Communications Limited has anything to do with “migration of telephone lines from analogue to digital platforms” as the ICPC spokesperson is alleged to have stated.

“Pinnacle Communications further maintains that the facts and clarifications provided above sufficiently define the context and extent of its involvement in the implementation of the DSO program in Nigeria and the nature of its working relationship with NBC .

“We wish to clearly emphasise that Pinnacle Communications Limited has not and can not as a licencee of NBC trespass into the statutory functions of the NBC or the Federal Ministry of Information on the implementation of the DSO program.

“Having made all the necessary statements in response to the ICPC’s investigations and taking cognisance of the pendency of Suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/779/2018 that Pinnacle Communications instituted in July 2018 in the Federal High Court, Abuja on a related matter against ICPC and two others.

” Pinnacle Communications considers it  prejudicial and unfair for the ICPC spokesperson to make as alleged random references to disjointed portions of comprehensive submissions to its investigators, clearly skewed to portray the company as complicit in the alleged or any “misapplication” of funds by the NBC, over which the management have no responsibility, ” he said.

He said that the company challenges the ICPC spokesperson, if the alleged press release was indeed made by her, to publish the full statements made to the ICPC by Pinnacle officials.

“Moreover, if truly made, the ICPC statement went beyond mere announcement of on-going investigations into the realm of unsubstantiated incriminations in the fashion of trial-by-media that invariably paints a premature and amateur picture of guilt, prior to judicial determination.

We assure the NBC, stakeholders in the DSO, its staff, international and local business associates and numerous clients that we remain committed to meeting all their obligations notwithstanding the statement by the ICPC spokesperson, ” Onifade said.(NAN)

 

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