Speaking at the Aso Rock Villa during a joint press conference, President Muhammadu Buhari, on Monday, gave visiting South African President, Jacob Zuma a shocker when he narrated how his country’s telecommunications firm, MTN, aided the Boko Haram terrorists to kill innocent Nigerians.
Buhari told Zuma who came to Nigeria with a large contingent of businessmen to expand trade relations with the host country, that had MTN promptly responded to the Federal Government’s directive to register all its network users in Nigeria, the terrorists would not have enjoyed coordinated communications in carrying out their attacks on their victims.
Buhari’s indictment of MTN was prompted by a South African journalist’s question on the extent of negotiations on the N780 billion fines the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) imposed on MTN.
The President, however, said that Nigeria was more concerned about the security implications than the fine. He said:
"This is the first time I will personally as President make a public comment about it; the concern of the Federal Government is basically on the security and not the fine imposed on MTN. You know how the unregistered GSM (cards) are being used by terrorists. Between 2009 and today, at least 10,000 Nigerians were killed by Boko Haram.
"That was why NCC asked MTN, Glo and the rest of them to register GSM (cards). Unfortunately, MTN was very, very slow and contributed to the casualties; and NCC looked at its regulations and imposed the fine," Buhari stated.
The President said despite MTN’s initial decision to drag the Federal Government to court over the fine and later withdrew the case, negotiations would continue until the matter ends.
"Unfortunately for MTN, they went to court and once you go to court, you virtually disarm the government because if the Federal Government refuses to listen to the judiciary, it is going against its own Constitution. Therefore, the government has to wait.
"I think MTN has seen that and decided to withdraw the case and go back and negotiate with the government agencies on what they consider a very steep fine to be reduced and maybe given time to pay gradually," Buhari said.
President Buhari stressed the need for both countries to continue their long-standing relationship as their affinity and leadership of the continent remained undisputed, adding that Nigeria would exploit South Africa’s advantage in agriculture and solid minerals sectors as both countries continue to expand mutual trade relations.
In his remarks, President Zuma said that his talks with Buhari covered areas of mutual cooperation such as trade, transport, defence, security, immigration, energy among others. He disclosed that over 30 agreements and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) had been signed and relevant ministers from the two countries had been directed to implement them.
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