MTN Class And Call, Nigeria Illicit Financial Flow

When Ogbeni (Mr.) Adebayo Shittu came out to state the intent of the federal government representing the information and communication sector, he was clearly plain about the final decision of the federal government and NCC on the fine inflicted on MTN Nigeria for not meeting the deadline setup by mobile network operators for disconnecting the subscribers identification module (SIM) with improper registration following section 20(1) of telephone subscriber regulation (TSR). It was a fine totalling 5.2 million dollars derived from 5.2 million unregistered SIM which were not deactivated. It was a promising mid-start for the federal government of Nigeria in person of President Muhammadu Buhari who at the start promised Nigerians a clean environment free of corruption. When this act of issue was being dragged, can I say was being determined by NCC, FG and Mr. Shittu himself, every inch of information was slated out for Nigerians to see. I laughed it off when I got to read the news as I have already presumed the end result,

A. The money will be slashed probably into half
B. Nigerians will be notified
C. A promise will be made for a re-decision
D. The matter will die down
E. Some unknown executives will go behind the curtains to collect proceed of the slashed fine

THE PROMISING FINE as at 2017

MTN stood up pretentiously against the Federal government of Nigeria’s decision moving a motion against them in the Federal High Court on the ground that there have been higher showcase of animosity against them by the FG, according to them the total amount of fine payable will really affect a large chunk of their annual gross income. MTN Nigeria then started moving out their money from Nigeria banks outside the country. The foray also saw them table a meeting between the President of South Africa (Jacob Zuma) and Nigeria’s Muhammad Buhari. The meeting yielded the following results –

A. The fine was slashed from 5.2 million dollars to 3 million+
B. Nigerians were notified by Adebayo Shittu of each instalmental payment made by MTN Nigeria to the federal government but not how and the reasons why the fine was slashed into half
C. President Muhammad Buhari in 2016 promised Nigerians that a meeting will be held where the decision to slash the fine into half will be re-visited
D. The matter died down and no one have anything to say about it again not even the media, there was no re-decision by the president
E. Some executives walked behind to divert the proceed into their accounts, where is Mr. Adebayo Shittu? He should at least have a report of how the issue is ongoing and to Mr. President, this is democracy, you can’t decide as if you are back in the 1990s.

This is how illicit financial flow pop out through some channels in Nigeria, MTN must have had a class of their own too.