Nigerian Communications Commission executive vice chairman, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, has secured a permit fee waiver of an astonishing N221 million ($697 thousand) for MTN Nigeria in Kano State, this is according to reports from Nigerian Communications Week.
According to Daily Trust, this is not the first time that the NCC boss has intervened to a similar effect. Last year Danbatta secured a similar deal in Ogun State, which resulted in the unsealing of 47 base stations under lock and key, while the state governor, Mr Ibikunle Amosun, also reduced ground rent fee owed by IHS Towers from N370 million to N120 million.
A statement on Sunday by the NCC revealed that Huwawei staff, working on telecommunication infrastructure expansion in Kano state on behalf of the MTN Nigeria, were arrested by the officials of government’s agency, Kano State Urban Planning and Development Authority (KANUPDA), a development which put a full stop to the project.
The situation could have adverse effects on Quality of Service experience among millions of service subscribers in the state and beyond before it was swiftly nipped in the bud. Danbatta as a result of the arrests, made an unscheduled visit to the state governor, Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, and the government magnanimously waived the permit fee of N221 Million for deployment of fibre infrastructure in that state.
Danbatta was said to have convinced the governor about the economic advantages that the state would gain from the deployment of more telecommunication infrastructure, as well the potential quality of service concern that millions of service subscribers would face if the work was further delayed.
In a letter signed by its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (MD/CEO), Arch Bashir Mudi Adamu, and addressed to MTN, the agency, however, said the waiver of permit fees was granted in respect of two federal roads in the state: Zaria Road and Maiduguri Road.
Staff Writer
