The Senate Committee on Communication has commented that it would leave no stone unturned in unravelling all factors that led to the payment of N50 billion by the Mobile Telecommunication Network (MTN). Also that it is concerned to know why MTN was directed to pay the money into a recovery account instead of through the regulatory agency, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) that imposed the fine in the first place.
Chairman of the Committee, Senator Gilbert Nnaji, revoked reports that the matter had been discarded due to the absence of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, at the investigative hearing of committee on last Thursday.
The NCC in October 2015 imposed a fine of N1.04 trillion on MTN for contravening the directive on the deactivation of 5.2 million unregistered subscribers on its network. MTN was however, reported to have paid N50 billion into government coffers as part of a deal to resolve the matter.
He described Malami’s action in relation to the controversial N50 billion payment by, 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 her to public ridicule in a bid to impress South Africa.”
Nnaji reaffirmed that no amount of sentiment would deter the committee from unmasking all those behind the “national embarrassment.”
