$5.2b fine: President Buhari to decide MTN's fate

The fate of the MTN Nigeria on the humongous $5.2 billion fine slammed on South Africa’s telephony company for violations by its Nigerian operation now hinges on decision of President Muhammadu Buhari, the minister of communications, Adebayo Shittu, has said.

MTN ‘s followed its failure to disconnect over five million unregistered subscribers in its network. The fine which is the heaviest regulatory punitive action on any Organisation in Africa, has attracted international concern as it is feared that its impacts might be fatal on the company’s operation in Nigeria.

Shittu, who spoke with journalists on a sidelines of Alliance 4 Affordable Internet Nigeria Coalition conference in Lagos, said that final decision on the N1.04 trillion fine will be taken by Buhari at the appropriate time “in public interest”.

It was learnt that there have been a lot of pressures from both official and unofficial quarters on Nigerian authorities to alter the penalty.

While the South African firm FavourStephen significant reduction in value of the penalty, the Nigeria  authorties have only shown some readiness to stagger payment to ensure less operational effects on the company.

MTN was meant to pay the fine by November 16, but later won extension to enable it continue negotiations with the Nigerian authorities.

According to Shittu, “The issue is now before Mr President. He will take the necessary decision at the appropriate time. I think Nigerians will expect that Mr President would do the best to ensure that the public interest is guaranteed.”

The minister would not agree that the government has given out mixed signals on its position on the MTN saga.

Responding to questions on alleged conflicting signals on government's stance on the fine, the minister said: “I don't think there is any conflicting position on where government stands on the MTN issue.

“Recall that there were violations which were established against MTN. The violations were to the tune off five million. That's a whole lot. There are many countries where subscribers in the entire country are not up to half of the five million. In the case of Nigeria, we had more than five million violations.

“Both parties, government and MTN, are on the same page that rules have been broken in this instance.”

Shittu had earlier stated that Nigeria did not want MTN Nigeria to quit the country because of a $5.2 billion fine imposed on it last month.

The fine – if fully enforced – amounts to more than the past two years of profit for MTN in its biggest market, but Shittu said it should not jeopardise the company's future in Africa's most populous nation and largest economy.

Reuters had quoted Shittu as saying, “Nobody wants MTN to die. Nobody wants MTN to shut down.”

Nigeria accounts for 37 per cent of revenues for MTN, which operates in more than 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Since the announcement of the fine, its shares have lost nearly 25 per cent of their value.

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