Telecommunications company MTN have paid N80 billion of the N330 billion fine imposed by the Nigerian government for its failure to deactivate more than five million unregistered SIM cards. This was disclosed by Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum in Abuja.
He said;
“For the first year, they paid N80 billion, after paying the initial N50 billion, and they will have to pay for three years until they will complete the N330 billion. MTN does not have a choice, when the law was made, it said for every unregistered SIM card in use, the fine is N200, 000, the law never anticipated that one company will be in violation to the tune of millions of lines. It was inconceivable, so when the thing was added 200,000 times 5.2 million lines, it came to a trillion plus.
“Government had to look at a number of factors because if they have to pay this amount; they will pack up.
“We also knew that we invited the international community to come and invest and anything that will be done which will shake the confidence of international investors in Nigerian economy, we must avoid it.”
Mr. Shittu also addressed the suggestions that the government made a mistake in reducing the fine. He argued;
“We must not throw away the baby with the bath water. If they had packed up and left, let us assume all their staff are not more than 5,000, it means all of those 5,000 will lose their jobs. Also those who made investment, who bought shares will lose their shares and the Nigeria banking sector would go into crisis.”
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