NCC and MTN: Game of wits or test of wills?

By the far the biggest tragedy of my life hit me four months ago: I lost my elder sister. She was just one-and-a-half years older than I am. We grew up like twins. She was five-and-a-half and I was four when we lost our dad, and our mum has been a widow since then. I still remember how we used to hold hands going to primary school. She died of complications from kidney stone in a Kano hospital. Five days later, we buried her in Kaduna, where she had lived all her adult life. She had survived Zangon Kataf riots. She had survived Sharia riots. She had survived Boko Haram bombings. But she was felled by a tiny kidney stone as a result of an obviously poor management.

My pain was multiplied when I learned that a few hours to her death on September 8, 2015, she wanted to talk to me. According to her daughter, she wanted to assure me that she would be all right, that I should put my mind at rest. But there was a problem: her MTN line had been deactivated, even though she had done the SIM registration. The husband was also using MTN, but his line had been deactivated too — also on the excuse of SIM registration which the man swore he had done. Frantic to get my sister to talk to me, he made every effort to reach me. By the time he found a solution, my sister was dead. I would never talk to her again.

I was so inconsolable. For the first time in my life, I lost the desire to see the next day. I thought I had seen the height of grief with the death of my friend and brother, Oronto Douglas, in April 2015 but I encountered grief in a new dimension. In my grief, I reserved special resentment for MTN for denying me the opportunity of speaking to my sister. What really did my sister want to tell me? Just to hear my voice? To hear words of encouragement? To share a sibling prayer? To get lifted in her spirit? To tell me she loved me? Or to seek advice on the treatment of the ailment which was discovered very late despite several tests and medications? MTN did not give us a chance.

Now you know my feelings when MTN was later slammed with a N1.04tr fine for failing to disconnect 5.2m unregistered lines. I felt no pity for them. This was also the pattern of reactions among many Nigerians. Those who had reservations with MTN’s operations could not have heard better news. It was like: finally, someone is cutting MTN to size. Subscribers complain about dropped calls, dodgy deductions, poor services, and so on — and MTN as the biggest network was naturally the biggest culprit. Although I don’t have any MTN line (I’m a one-phone man and 0802 has been my preferred network since 2001), I always feel the pains of MTN’s subscribers.

I have already made my feelings known about the N1.04tr fine. My point is that at long last in Nigeria, there is crime and there is punishment. Rules are meant to be obeyed, not to serve as a decoration. I commended President Muhammadu Buhari for taking regulation seriously. However, I asked the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to temper justice with mercy because I believe the punishment is too heavy. With verbal and written apologies from MTN, which is technically an admission of guilt, the Nigerian government agreed to offer a 35% discount (sorry, that was a typo — I meant 25%) to the mobile operator.

It seemed the whole issue had been finally resolved. It appeared MTN and the federal government had kissed and made up, and the CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, was only expecting an SMS alert so that he could inform the minister of finance that “corn don land”. But not so fast. As the December 31, 2015 deadline winked at NCC, MTN headed for the courts to raise some legal issues. This, expectedly, enraged the government and millions of Nigerians. They consider this court action as an affront on the government and a display of lack of faith after a lengthy negotiation process — but MTN’s lawyers cannot be bothered.

Why did MTN head for court? It would appear to me that this was actually their first option before they decided to toe the path of negotiation. I have looked at the issues they raised before the court and my conclusion is that they have always believed they have a case and were only pleading for mercy because they thought it would earn them a bigger discount. It would appear to me that those who argued for conciliation have bitten the dust, their expectations having been cut short by the size of the discount and the insistence on the December 31 deadline. The other school apparently believes the fine cannot withstand judicial scrutiny. Hence the litigation.

MTN’s lawyers are arguing that NCC’s sanctions as spelt out in the Nigerian Communications Act (Registration of Telephone Subscribers) Regulations 2011 encroach on the powers of the National Assembly and the judiciary. They are also questioning NCC’s powers to determine and impose penalties and fines “without adequate provision for the rights to fair hearing and of appeal” and if this will not breach MTN’s “constitutional rights to fair hearing and of appeal”. They also argue that NCC is acting as legislator, executor, accuser, prosecutor, judge and beneficiary in applying and enforcing the provisions of the regulations.

They are also faulting the legality of the fine because the NCC is supposed to have a governing board in line with the Nigerian Communications Act before such decisions can be taken. Since there was no governing board at the time, MTN is arguing that the decision to impose the fine is “illegal, null, void and of no effect whatsoever” — the language lawyers and judges speak. Even as a layman, I would argue that all the issues being raised by MTN are purely technical and legal, and there is no doubting the fact that they are not saying they have not broken an industry regulation on subscriber registration. So they are guilty as charged. Or “guilty with explanation”.

So what next? The NCC is staying action until the case is determined. When you have a tempered intellectual like Professor Umar Dambatta at the head of a government agency, you can expect such a cultured response. NCC has so far acted decently. I also suspect that the commission is restrained by the importance of MTN to Nigeria’s economy. If you shut down MTN’s operations today, a lot of things will go haywire, notably thousands of ATMs, bank transactions, and nearly half of Nigeria’s mobile lines. Unknown to many Nigerians, it is MTN’s ICT infrastructure that powers major businesses. NCC is dealing with a fly on the balls. It’s delicate.

In the final analysis, however, I don’t think MTN will be stupid enough to engage the government in a test of wills. It is suicidal to fight the regulator. MTN knows. My sense, therefore, is that MTN will not dare to confront the government. I guess they are trying to buy time — or praying that the case would go on arbitration. Logically, no business concern will gladly fork out N780 billion to pay a fine just like that. It’s not that easy. However, I think the solution is somewhere between the fine and the court. I prefer to see this as a game of wits rather than a test of wills. And I still think it will end with MTN paying some fine.

AND FOUR OTHER THINGS…

TARABA VERDICT

The Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja has overturned the decision of the Taraba Governorship Election Petitions Tribunal to remove Governor Darius Ishaku — and I was, honestly, not surprised. I’m just amazed that the tribunal chose to listen to a clear pre-election matter of candidature despite several pronouncements by superior courts in the past that candidacy is purely a party’s internal affair. My bigger worry, indeed, is that another tribunal will still give a similar verdict in the future, wasting precious time and resources over nothing, despite the fact that this is now settled in law. It ought not to be so. Perplexing.

EXPLOSIVE HIJAB

There has been an explosive debate over the statement by President Muhammadu Buhari that he would consider banning the hijab in Boko Haram-infested territories if suicide bombers continue to wear it in disguise. First, you have to thank God that it is a Muslim president that said so. Imagine if it was former President Goodluck Jonathan! However, my opinion remains that Boko Haram does not need the hijab to do what they are doing. In fact, they introduced hijab not too long ago. Even Chad, a predominantly Muslim country, that banned the hijab is still under Boko Haram attacks. Devils.

50 KOBO

Has the federal government finally ended fuel subsidies? There is yet no clarity. Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, minister of petroleum resources, leaves you more confused every time he talks.  When you think you’ve finally understood him, he comes up with another line that sends your head spinning. Yet clarity is needed if we want to attract the needed investment in the sector. At least, we now know the pump price of petrol has been reduced from N87 per litre to N86:50k. And I understand black marketers have also reduced their price from N150 to N149:50k. Kidding.

NIGERIA 2016

Since 2015 was supposed to be politically explosive for Nigeria, we can say we scaled the hurdle against all odds. The country did not break up, contrary to the prediction of an imaginary “CIA report” which everyone was quoting without reading it. However, 2016 will define Nigeria economically. Predictions are that oil price will continue to go down, which means the naira will continue to crash as forex inflow drops. For an import-dependent country like Nigeria, the forecasts are not looking pretty. To what extent can Nigerians adjust to a new life? Are we ready to tighten our belts? Realities.