The Federal Government has stood down from its earlier stance of imposing further penalty on MTN Nigeria if it failed to meet the December 31 deadline to pay its fine, saying that it will now wait for the outcome of a legal action by the South African telecom giant before deciding on whether to enforce the $3.9 billion fine.
Mr Victor Oluwadamilare, spokesman for Minister of Communication Adebayo Shittu, made this position known Wednesday while reacting to the December 31, 2015 deadline.
“The federal government, NCC (regulator) or any government agent will not do anything at the expiration of the December 31 deadline. Now that they (MTN) have gone to court, we will await the outcome of the case. This is a government that believes in the rule of law.”
But Oluwadamilare’s stance was contrary to the claim of a source in the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) who had earlier insisted that “appropriate action” would be taken against MTN if it failed to pay the fine by the December 31 deadline for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards.
The federal government, through NCC, introduced the measure to check widespread use of unregistered SIM cards for criminal activities, including kidnappers demanding ransom and by Boko Haram sect.
The NCC had imposed a $5.2 billion fine on MTN in October but after weeks of negotiations, it reduced it by 25 per cent in December and set a deadline for December 31, Reuters reported.
But the telecom firm is still not prepared to pay the reduced fine as it later hired seven prominent senior advocates of Nigeria (SANs) and filed a suit before the Federal High Court in Lagos, challenging NCC’s power to impose the fine. The firm wants the court to set aside the fine.
-Leadership
