By
Tony ICHEKU
To industry watchers and stakeholders, the arrest and detention of the
Director-General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Emeka
Mba, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Monday, January 11, was long foretold. His eventual sack on Monday February 15, 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari hardly came as a surprise.
To industry watchers and stakeholders, the arrest and detention of the
Director-General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission, NBC, Emeka
Mba, by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC on Monday, January 11, was long foretold. His eventual sack on Monday February 15, 2016 by President Muhammadu Buhari hardly came as a surprise.
In a statement by Mr. Babachir David Lawal, the Secretary to the Government of the Nigerian Federation, Mba was listed as one of the heads of parastatals disengaged by Buhari. No reason was offered for their sack, but for Mba particularly, his was seriously linked to the indiscretion in the spectrum license issued to MTN, the South African telecommunications company.
Several months in the last days of the Goodluck Jonathan administration, allegations against the DG were rife that the NBC’s
sale of a portion of spectrum in the 700mhz band to MTN Nigeria failed to meet
rule of law and due process.
Specifically, the NBC boss in his disposal of 700MHz spectrum to MTN for N34
billion, allegedly failed to comply with the Communications Act 2003 as well as
the Procurement Act 2007 which both made clear provisions that such assets
should be sold through competitive bidding process. Despite Mba’s claims of
Presidential authorisation to seal the deal, stakeholders had persisted
that full process - auctioning- bidding – shortlisting-- was not followed and that
the N34 billion price was not an appropriate value for the band.
Former Executive Commissioner of the Nigeria Communication Ccommission, NCC, Dr. Bashir Gwandu, who spoke to People&Politics, puts the issues in perspective thus: "Whether or not that process of sale is in line with any White Paper or not, it is simply a wrong process”. He cited Section 121 of the Communications Act 2003 as giving sole and exclusive power to the NCC to manage Communications Spectrum, notwithstanding the provision of any other written law.
However, bent on having the last word on the issue, Mba argued then that his apparent indiscretion was to assist Nigeria to meet the International Telecommunications Union, ITU's agreement to switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting by June 20, 2017, the new deadline. Nigeria had failed to meet the June 17, 2015 (the initial Digital Switchover, DSO) deadline. In a statement on the controversy, he stated: "When it became obvious government could not spare the money, and in order to avoid missing another deadline, we began to consider other options. We therefore proposed and got proper permission from government to license part of our spectrum lying fallow and to use the proceeds to finance the DSO. "...I'm pleased to inform you that we have successfully licensed MTN Nigeria Limited to use part of the 700mhz to provide digital pay TV
broadcasting services. We have thus raised N34 billion, slightly less than our budget."
However, there was more to it than meets the eye. The process for meeting the DSO was not the sole responsibility of NBC. As early as 2008, the late President Umaru Yar'Adua proactively initiated the process for the completion of the
migration by setting up a Presidential Advisory Committee on Transition from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting (PAC) comprising representation from the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, NBC, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and the print and electronic media agencies amongst others.
Former Executive Commissioner of the Nigeria Communication Ccommission, NCC, Dr. Bashir Gwandu, who spoke to People&Politics, puts the issues in perspective thus: "Whether or not that process of sale is in line with any White Paper or not, it is simply a wrong process”. He cited Section 121 of the Communications Act 2003 as giving sole and exclusive power to the NCC to manage Communications Spectrum, notwithstanding the provision of any other written law.
However, bent on having the last word on the issue, Mba argued then that his apparent indiscretion was to assist Nigeria to meet the International Telecommunications Union, ITU's agreement to switch over from analogue to digital broadcasting by June 20, 2017, the new deadline. Nigeria had failed to meet the June 17, 2015 (the initial Digital Switchover, DSO) deadline. In a statement on the controversy, he stated: "When it became obvious government could not spare the money, and in order to avoid missing another deadline, we began to consider other options. We therefore proposed and got proper permission from government to license part of our spectrum lying fallow and to use the proceeds to finance the DSO. "...I'm pleased to inform you that we have successfully licensed MTN Nigeria Limited to use part of the 700mhz to provide digital pay TV
broadcasting services. We have thus raised N34 billion, slightly less than our budget."
However, there was more to it than meets the eye. The process for meeting the DSO was not the sole responsibility of NBC. As early as 2008, the late President Umaru Yar'Adua proactively initiated the process for the completion of the
migration by setting up a Presidential Advisory Committee on Transition from Analogue to Digital Broadcasting (PAC) comprising representation from the Federal Ministry of Information and Communication, NBC, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and the print and electronic media agencies amongst others.
The
PAC was mandated to advise the government on actions relevant to the
smooth transition from analogue to digital broadcasting, the quantum of the
expected digital dividend spectrum following the migration, and
thereafter recommend an appropriate regulatory framework to guide the release
of the spectrum for mobile broadband services.
Thus on a closer look, industry players and stakeholders faulted Mba's
justification as the sale in itself, to a large extent, precludes the actualisation of the transfer and reallocation of the spectrum as intended by the ITU. They argue that the deal with MTN is worth another consideration by independent industry stakeholders. Indeed there are reasons to believe MTN might have illegally
acquired this license to either boost its acquisition of VISAFONE, (then in process, but now finalised) the only Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Operator in the country, or maintain a competitive edge in the industry.
Thus on a closer look, industry players and stakeholders faulted Mba's
justification as the sale in itself, to a large extent, precludes the actualisation of the transfer and reallocation of the spectrum as intended by the ITU. They argue that the deal with MTN is worth another consideration by independent industry stakeholders. Indeed there are reasons to believe MTN might have illegally
acquired this license to either boost its acquisition of VISAFONE, (then in process, but now finalised) the only Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Operator in the country, or maintain a competitive edge in the industry.
By its enabling legislation, the NBC does not have the authority to issue licenses to telephone carriers. The body mandated to do so is the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC which declined to speak on the controversy, claiming ignorance of the N34 billion deal. While the NCC and NBC seemingly shares similar regulatory functions, they are nonetheless markedly different by statutory standards. Both have overlapping structures in the area of licensing for telecommunications companies; however, they both regulate separate and clearly demarcated sections of the spectrum.
While Mba maintains that “The license issued was for a converged digital broadcasting license based on the existing NFMC protocol for broadcast…the spectrum in question, 700MHz is still a broadcast spectrum and remains within the broadcasting frequency spectrum” He maintains that the NBC enjoys a good working relationship with the NCC and each agency “respects each other’s boundaries”. Usually, the National Frequency Management Council has the oversight functions in the frequency territory, a fact that was also raised in
the implicating document which alleged that NBC did not seek the permission of the said Council before embarking on the sale of frequency.
For confidence to be restored, Gwandu insists, government should take steps to revoke the sale, and also because the MTN as a telecommunication company is not authorized to purchase spectrum from any other source other than from its regulator, the NCC.
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