By
EDWIN ILEABOYA
The
MTN is still reeling from a fine of N1.04 Trillion imposed by the NCC for refusing
to disconnect over 5 million subscribers with irregular SIM registrations issues before the
expiration of a one- week deadline. It has continued to blackmail the
government that the millions of Nigerians earning their living from its value
chain will be affected by any decision to halt their sometimes-questionable
operations in Nigeria.
In
continuing the blackmail, an official of the company who spoke with People&Politics on condition of
anonymity said the company will use every tactic to avoid, or water down, the
fine. He posed the questions: why blame MTN for inappropriate registration of
SIM cards? What did the NCC do with the N6.2billion appropriation it got for
SIM registrations at the time?
The company
said it has paid
over N1.3 trillion in taxes and levies to
government since 2001 and accounts for 11% of non-oil tax revenue/5% of total
taxes in 2014 with over N15 billion invested in network infrastructure. “Every
quarter we pay a minimum of N4 billion to NCC in annual operating levies, an average
of N16 billion a year”, the official revealed. Implicit in the revelation is
that it will be difficult if not impossible in these harsh economic times for
government to wield the big stick against the company.
MTN has so far not succeeded in brow-beating the NCC with blackmail and media show of bravado. MTN had launched a court challenge in December, saying the Nigerian telecoms regulator had no legal grounds to order the penalty. It later retreated to seek an out-of-court settlement with its regulator, only to turn around to hire a former top U.S. law enforcement official to help challenge the $3.9 billion fine.
Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is said to have pleaded with Nigerian officials last month on behalf of the telecoms company. This follows a Lagos judge’s ruling last month giving MTN until March 18 to try to reach a settlement over the fine.
Holder, who led the U.S. Justice Department from 2009 to 2015 and was one of President Barack Obama's longest-serving cabinet members, returned to law firm Covington & Burling, where he was previously a partner from 2001 to 2009.
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