MTN must pay fine in full says House of Representatives.

The battle between MTN and the lawmakers seems not to have ended as Members of the House of Representatives have stated
that the down-payment of N50 billion by MTN towards an
out-of-court settlement of its N1.04 trillion fine is inadequate.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) slapped
the N1.04 trillion fine on MTN last October, but later
reduced it to N780 billion and gave the network provider
till December 31, 2015 to pay up after the company had
pleaded for leniency.

But before the deadline, MTN sued the federal
government challenging the power of the federal
government and NCC to impose the fine.
This is coming as the Executive Vice Chairman of the
Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), Prof Umar
Garba Danbatta told the lawmakers that the commission
was not in custody of the N50 billion payment and was
unaware of the account the money was paid into by the
MTN.
A member of the House, Hon. Sajeed Fijabi, at a meeting
with the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu
and officials of NCC, said any negotiation on the fine
must be spearheaded by the NCC and not the AGF, adding
that there should be no room for a reduction of the fine,
as it would set a bad precedent.
“There is nowhere in the law that says there is room for
reduction. If you are reducing this now, what will happen
to Glo and others? I see MTN going to court every time as
a way to circumvent the law. In the US, British Petroleum
paid the full fine for the oil spill (in the Gulf of Mexico).
“Somebody is not allowing you to handle this matter the
way you should. After you had imposed the fine,
somebody is negotiating and reducing it. You imposed the
fine, you should take the lead in negotiations, but now
you are being sidelined.
“You imposed the N1.04 trillion fine, and we at the
National Assembly have already projected that amount as
part of federal government’s revenue,” Fijabi added.
The Telecommunication giant was said to have paid N50
billion to the federal government after NCC had imposed
a fine of N1.04 trillion on it over the inability to de-activate unregistered SIM cards as at the expiration of
the deadline.