NCC ‘to block’ Skye Bank from ntel’s assets

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will turn down any requests from Skye Bank Plc to take over the assets of ntel, the first national carrier owned by Tunde Ayeni, TheCable understands.

The management of Skye had written to Acting President Yemi Osinbajo detailing how Ayeni, chairman of the bank between 2010 and 2016, allegedly used his position to take huge loans from the bank.

The bank also requested Osinbajo’s assistance in taking over the assets of ntel (former Nitel/Mtel) to repay the debts.

“A practical solution would be to secure the entire industry exposure with the Nitel assets estimated at N282 billion (Open Market Value) and N183 billion (Forced Sale Value) by Knight Frank in 2014, and thereafter place the company into Receivership for recovery and sale to interested investors,” wrote Muhammad Ahmad, the chairman, and Adetokunbo Abiru (pictured), the group managing director, in a joint letter to Osinbajo.

“However, in order to come to fruition, this approach will require strong and unyielding support from the regulatory and political authorities in the country.”

But a senior official of NCC, the telecoms regulatory body, told TheCable on Wednesday that Skye Bank’s request will not have the commission’s backing.

“We have made it clear again and again that the operating licences we issued to telcos are exclusively for the telcos and nobody can take the licences through the back door,” the official, who declined to be named, said in response to an enquiry from TheCable.

“We are not aware of any debenture. We were not informed. We would advise that the bank and the customer should sit down and sort out their business relationship. We are currently managing the Etisalat/9mobile situation, trying to restructure the liabilities and obligations, and this is not what we need at this time.”

TheCable reported on Tuesday that Ayeni has started repaying the loans which were provided by a consortium of banks for the purchase of government companies, namely ntel, Ibadan DisCo and Yola DisCo.

Sources said he paid $10 million to the banks last week and also pays $4.5 million quarterly towards for the facilities he took for the DisCos in line with the restructuring agreement with the consortium of lenders.

Ayeni is also on the verge of securing a $200 million foreign investment, part of which is meant to pay off ntel’s indebtedness to banks.

TheCable understands that Ayeni and the management of Skye Bank have lately been holding meetings to resolve the issues raised in the letter to Osinbajo.