President Buhari Has The Final Say On MTN's $3.9 bln fine: minister

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Nigeria will start new talks with South African mobile phone operator MTN “very soon” to settle a dispute over a $3.9 billion fine but the final decision rests with President Muhammadu Buhari, the communications minister said.

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“It is (now) for government to meet with them and conclude negotiations,” telecommunications minister Adebayo Shittu told Reuters.

Last week, MTN said it had withdrawn a lawsuit against Nigeria over the fine, which originally stood at $5.2 billion.

MTN was fined for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM users and has paid $250 million towards a settlement.

Naija247news recalled that the Nigeria government’s team, led by Attorney General of the Federation, and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, and the MTN team led by former U.S Attorney General and Head of Covington & Burling LLP, Washington DC, Mr. Eric H. Holder, Jr. are expected to consider the merits and demerits of the terms of payment of the fine.

Meanwhile, the NCC yesterday confirmed Federal Government’s receipt of the sum of N50, 000,000,000 (Fifty Billion Naira only), towards settlement of the fine imposed on MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd by the Commission, and its withdrawal of Suit No FHC/1923/2015 – MTN vs. NCC & HAGF

According to a statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, the official information to that effect was received by the commission from the Office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, yesterday, February 29, 2016.

Ojobo explained that the amount is an unconditional good faith payment, on the basis that this sum would be applied towards eventual settlement agreement for payment of the fine imposed on the company by NCC, while the ongoing negotiations between the Federal Government and the company reaches a final resolution.

Ojobo pointed out that the receipt of the amount, and withdrawal of the suit is without prejudice to the final decision of government on the terms of payment being proposed by the company.

Africa’s top telecoms firm was initially handed a $5.2 billion penalty in October, prompting weeks of lobbying that led to a 25 percent reduction by the NCC.

At the time an NCC source said its decision was based on advice from Nigeria’s state security service which suspected unregistered SIM cards were being used for criminal activity.

It had originally asked MTN to disconnect between 10 and 18.6 million users but MTN told the regulator it had 5.2 million unregistered users on its network, the source said.

The original amount was based on fining the company $1,000 for every unregistered SIM card in use.

MTN has said the revised fine of $3.9 billion is still too high, equating to more than twice MTN’s annual average capital expenditure over the past five years.

 

Babatunde Akinsola
Babatunde Akinsolahttps://naija247news.com
Babatunde Akinsola is aNaija247news' Southwest editor. He's based in Lagos and writes on the Yoruba Nation political issues, news and investigative reports

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