President Muhammadu Buhari has blamed the failure of MTN Communications Nigeria Limited to comply with Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) directive on registration of subscribers for aiding Boko Haram insurgency.
Buhari said MTN’s failure to comply with the directive and disconnect millions of unregistered subscribers enabled the insurgents to use the network. It also enabled the terrorists in carrying out its attacks which led to the killing of thousands of Nigerians, Daily Trust reports.
The president said this at a joint press briefing on Monday, Tuesday, March 9, at the presidential villa, with the visiting South African President Jacob Zuma. He said it was for that reason the telecom operator was fined $5.2 billion (N1. 4 trillion) by the NCC. The fine has been reduced to N780 billion. “The concern of the federal government was basically on the security, and not the fine imposed on MTN. You know how the unregistered GSMs are being used by terrorists. And between 2009 and today, at least 10,000Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram. “That was why the NCC asked MTN, Glo and the rest of them to register GSM subscribers. “Unfortunately, MTN was very, very slow and contributed to the casualties. And the NCC looked at its regulations and imposed the fine,” Buhari said. According to him, MTN’s decision to go to court disarmed the government from getting involved in the matter. Recall that in October 2015, the telecom giant MTN Nigeria had been fined a $5.2bn by NCC for non-compliance with a deadline to disconnect all non-registered sim cards. Buhari added that Nigeria has made moves to strengthen her relationship with South Africa by identifying agriculture and solid minerals as investment opportunities in Nigeria in order to create jobs and diversify the economy.
In his remarks, Zuma said: “We have a commitment to increase our economic activities. We discussed across all areas of the economy to grow the economy faster.” He described Nigeria as South Africa’s key trading partner on the continent, noting that South African companies in Nigerian had risen from four in 1999 to over 120 now. Zuma promised to reduce the process of obtaining South African visa by Nigerians to boost economic activities and tourism.
