How Nigeria Government Committed N106 Billion Error� in MTN Fine Letter

 

The Nigerian government on Friday admitted responsibility for an embarrassing N106 billion discrepancy in fines imposed on telecoms firm, MTN.

 

According to the Premium Times, the Nigerian Communications Commission had on Thursday asked the South African operator to pay 35 per cent less N1.04 trillion ($5.2 billion) fine earlier charged the company for failing to disconnect unregistered subscribers.

But on Friday, the government said the accurate discount was 25 per cent and not 35 per cent, meaning MTN was to pay N780 billion and not N674 billion as previously reported.

The NCC said in a letter seen by a correspondent that the difference was caused by a “typographical error” that had been promptly corrected.

A spokesperson, Tony Ojobo, declined to discuss details of the error.

Mr. Ojobo told a correspondent “the important thing is that the error was corrected and that MTN shareholders know that they got a waiver”.

But multiple sources at the presidency disclosed how the error occurred, and how the government scrambled to correct it.

The approval for the reduction of the N1.04 trillion fine came from President Buhari, sources at the presidency said.