CKN Investigation:The Fraud Called NCC,Collects 2.5% Annual Turn Over Of GSM Companies Annually..Why It's After Them

That the Nigerian Communication Commission has compromised its statutory function as a regulator of the telecom industry in Nigeria is no longer news, what is news as exclusively obtained by CKN Nigeria in our over one month investigation of the activities of the organization is the fact that instead of making sure that quality service and control is maintained within the industry and protecting customers interest through best practices and quality and not qualitative services, the NCC has been engaging in shady deals that sees it collecting on an annual basis.2.5% of the annual revenue before tax from GSM operators in Nigeria.

According to our investigation, in the past ten years so far,Airtel has paid more than N25b, MTN,over N45b, Globacom over N18b and Etisalat over N5b ..The payment by other telephone operators and Internet service provider companies also run into billions of Naira.

Our investigation also showed that the NCC has also made billions of Naira from the SIM card registration exercise which it embarked upon last year.

The agency went ahead with the registration which is still under probe by the two chambers of the National Assembly.

Due to its greed and not putting into consideration the effect on the average Nigerians, the NCC vehemently disregarded the initial SIM card registration embarked upon by the various GSM operators at no cost to the customers.

The agency has turned itself to a tin god agency that issues directive and imposes sanctions as it wishes without regard of the implication on Africa’s fastest growing telecom industry.

The NCC had recently penalised the four GSM companies operating in the country, to the tune of N1.17bn, for poor quality of service rendered to subscribers in March and April, 2012. Though MTN was requested to pay N360m; Airtel, N270m; Etisalat, N360m; and Globacom, N180m, they had failed to meet the May 25, 2012 deadline. As such, the affected operators have been incurring additional N2.5m per day as penalty for as long as the contravention persists.

The question on every one’s lip is who should be the direct beneficiary of any imposed fine on poor services, the customer or NCC?.

If the customers were being short changed by the operators ,is it not imperative that the agency should insist such money be refunded to the end user through airtime rather than NCC?.

Our Investigation has also shown the present leadership of NCC led by Dr Eugene Juwan lacks the capacity to regulate the industry unlike his predecessor, Ernest Ndukwe.

There have been a systematic collapse of infrastructure and leadership since Dr Juwan took over the mantle of leadership at NCC.

Staff morale is low, activities are practically at a standstill and Nigerians are not getting the type of robust leadership expected of a regulator of his magnitude.

While, some staff of the agency who spoke to us on condition of anonymity acknowledged the lack of direct and purposeful leadership on the part of Dr Juwan and his top executives, they also informed us of the various frivolous foreign trips by members of the management team of the agency that is practically crippling the financial base of the agency.

An average Manager at NCC makes an all expense paid trip to at least three foreign countries in a year. Some top senior managers makes such trips atimes three times in a month if not more.

A department in the agency has the sole responsibility of searching daily for foreign conferences and symposiums to be embarked upon by top managers of the agency which runs into billions of Naira yearly.

This is also evident in the mass recruitment of staff and jumbo salaries paid them by Dr Juwan led NCC in recent time with total disregard to the board and management team of the agency

It is therefore pertinent to ask what NCC has done with all the huge money it collects from GSM and other Operators in the country.

What level of infrastructure has it made to assist quality of service to the end user.

The agency said it has obtained a court injunction to shut down all the GSM companies any time from now for refusing to pay the sanction imposed on them.

According to an insider of one of the GSM companies, if this is allowed, it will affect over 99 million subscribers across the land.

We wish to ask, whose interest is the NCC out to serve?..That of the customer or its greed for more money from the operators.

The NCC should focus more attention in helping the operators to deliver world class, quality services.

Severally, they have complained about the problem they faced daily,each of their base station across the land is powered by two generators. Its facilities are vandalized periodically, double taxation is also a problem.

In as much as we are not out to exonerate the GSM companies of their short coming which is glaring to all and sundry, the NCC as a regulator should be seen as an unbiased regulator out to protect the consumer and not its pocket.

We will advice the National Assembly to set up a probe panel to investigate what the NCC has done with over N100b it has collected from telephone operators in Nigeria.

Our attempt to speak to NCC Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo on these allegations were rebuffed..Several calls and text messages to his phone number 08033141.. (last three digits withheld by us) was unsuccessful..The last message to him yesterday by us read “Good day Mr Ojobo..My name is Chris Kehinde Nwandu..We run Nigeria’s foremost blog CKN Nigeria..We have it on good authority that GSM Operators pay 2.5% of their revenue to NCC as Annual Operating Levy and that Since inception over N100b has been paid to NCC..it’s of importance to know how this money has been spent especially in developing infrastructure in the industry.I have been calling ur number with no response. It will be good to hear your own side of the story before going to press. This is my number..email..cknnigeria@gmail.com..www.cknnigeria.com..A quick response will be appreciated..thanks.CKN”