Etisalat financial crisis: Reps wade in

THE House of Representatives has waded into the financial crisis rocking the Etisalat Global Communication system, one of the nation’s giant telecoms operators in the country with a view to preventing further crisis in the sector and ensuring quality service to the members of the public.

Consequently, the House Committee on Telecommunications chaired by Honourable Saheed Akinade-Fijabi has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which is the regulatory authority of the telecoms operators to carry out immediate integrity and financial audits on Etisalat and all other operators.

The committee which gave the directive in Abuja at an emergency meeting with the management of the NCC led by its Executive Commissioner (Stakeholder Management), Mr Sunday Dare stated that the action became necessary in order to determine the true situation of things in the operations of the telecoms operators in the country.

According to the Chairman of the Committee, Hon Akinade-Fijabi, the step would also prevent further loss of revenue to the Federal Government and loss of jobs by Nigerians in the sector.

“As the elected representatives of the people, we have to wade into this matter in order to prevent further massive loss of revenue by the government and jobs by Nigerians, government needs revenue from the taxes paid by these operators to provide the needed amenities by the people and Nigerians on their employments also need to keep their jobs to earn a living.

“So, this is where we as lawmakers come in, in order to ensure that the operators operate according to the rules of the game, we will get into the root of what led to this mess, those responsible for it will not go unpunished.

“We will have to invite the necessary anti-graft agencies, especially the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to look into the matter and fish out those behind it and get them punished.

“We have been informed that there is a new management for Etisalat now. This committee has resolved to give the new management few weeks to look into the books of the company and brief us its findings on true position of things.

“After this, we will then invite the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the new management to chart a way forward. We will not allow public money to go down the drain just like that.”

The committee, however, warned against illegal takeover of the company under whatever guise, saying that all relevant provisions of the NCC Act must be followed to the letter for the acquisition of the outfit and that anything short of it would resisted by the National Assembly.

Speaking, the NCC Commissioner, Mr Dare commended the timely intervention of the National Assembly, assuring that the Commission as the regulatory authority of the activities of the sector was already on the top of the situation with a view to resolving it amicably.

Mr Dare stated that NCC as a responsible Commission, immediately the incident happened, met with the stakeholders including the company, CBN and the consortium of banks involved in the transactions and that all the banks were after was the immediate recovery of their loans.

He said that apart from the normal auditing of the operators financial books and ensuring quality services and adhering to rules, the Commission had taken necessary steps to prevent further incidents in other telecoms outfits.