NCC Refutes Bribery Allegation Against Officials over MTN fine

Nigerian Communications Commission has refuted claims that some of its officials were bribed in the negotiation and ongoing settlement of the N330Billion fine the agency slammed on GSM network provider, MTN Nigeria.

Abdullahi Maikano, director, Consumer Affairs Bureau, of the commission debunked the claims in Effurun, Uvwien council area, Delta state where the telecoms regulator held its 22nd Consumer Town Hall Meeting.

Represented by his deputy, Dr Femi Atoyebi on the occasion, Maikano said: “no NCC official was bribed. I repeat, nobody bribed any NCC official on that MTN fine issue, quote me. NCC is a very responsible organization under quality leadership which cascades down to the least of staff.

“No NCC staff will ever take bribe. Challenge me if you see one. That allegation is not true. You read in the papers what MTN has done, they have paid some amount and they are to pay the rest by installments. So, that case is actually settled.”

On the recurring consumer complaints of unsolicited SMS and poor network among other concerns against service providers, Maikano noted that the continued town hall meetings to bridge and bring telecoms consumers with operators and the regulator are providing gainful results in gradually resolving the complaints by users.

“It’s not true that NCC has not been doing anything about complaints. The town hall meetings are not jamborees. Everything going on here is being recorded and we will played. We do a comprehensive report and make recommendations on every outing to management.

“Some of the policies you see being rolled out by NCC emanate from reports from meetings like these. The consumers are the target beneficiaries of all our activities which make them enjoy primary focus in ensuring that they get quality of service, value for money and timely and fair redress of complaints.”

At the Effurun Town were various network providers, religious groups, companies and several individual consumers who harped on inconveniences suffered over unsolicited messages, crazy deductions and poor networks among the commonest complaints the NCC promised to resolve with time.