BREAKING NEWS, Business
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SENATE committee on Communication has vowed to unravel all factors that led to the payment of N50 billion by the MTN Nigeria. The committee said it was interested to know why the MTN was directed to pay the money into a recovery account instead of through the Nigerian Communication Commission, NCC, which imposed the fine in the first place.
Gilbert Nnaji, Senate chairman of the committee, at the weekend denied reports in the media that the matter had been dropped due to the absence of Abubakar Malami, attorney general and minister of justice, at the investigative hearing of committee on Thursday, March 10.
Nnaji said most members of the Communications committee viewed Malami’s action in relation to the controversial N50 billion payment by the MTN, as not only at variance with the anti-corruption stance of the federal government but a deliberate attempt to undermine Nigeria’s integrity and subject it to public ridicule in a bid to impress South Africa.
He insisted that no amount of sentiment would deter the committee from unmasking all those behind the national embarrassment. The committee chairman said unravelling the overall circumstances surrounding the deal became necessary due to the public outcry it has generated.
The NCC in October 2015 imposed a fine of N1.04 trillion on the MTN for contravening the directive on the deactivation of 5.2 million unregistered subscribers on its network.
In any case, the MTN reportedly paid N50 billion into government coffers as part of a deal to resolve the matter out of court.
— Mar 14, 2016 @ 13:10 GMT
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