The House of Representatives may soon probe the allegation and counter-allegation on frequency racketeering rocking the leadership of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC.
Sources told our correspondent yesterday that the House was fully aware of the development and “may soon begin an enquiry into the allegations of underhand dealings of frequency spectrum allocations which, based on what we have read, poses threats to national security.”
The sources said the House had also realised the urgency to address the lingering crisis in order not to discourage foreign investors.
“The issue here is that the NCC has been known to be one of the most transparent agencies of the Federal Government, which other telecoms regulatory agencies from other countries in Africa have come to understudy,” one of the sources said.
The source added that with good regulatory environment, which NCC had been noted for since it was created, Nigeria had recorded huge success in telecoms and information technology growth.
He said: “So, we would not, as people’s representatives, allow any interest whatsoever in the NCC leadership to undermine that unprecedented growth, which has positioned Nigeria as one of the fastest growing telecoms market.
“I want to believe that the House committee overseeing the activities of the NCC would soon take necessary action, though the commission had placed an advertorial to debunk the allegations, yet we know we must wade into the issue and I am sure the House will look into the matter.”
The source added that the House would also get to the root of the matter to restore investors’ confidence in the nation’s telecoms sector and to protect existing Foreign Direct Investment Inflow which recently hit $25bn (about N4trn).
National Mirror gathered that the NCC was accused of not following due process and existing competition guidelines in the allocation of the frequency band 450MHz and the 800MHz digital dividend band.
In the case of the 450 MHz, said to be occupied by the police since 2009, the NCC was said to have sold the frequency band to a company called Open Skys Limited “without any competitive bid process as provided by the NCC Act 2003 nor consideration for national security.”
It was also alleged that the 450 MHz frequency, valued at over $50m, was sold for less than $6m by the current NCC leadership on September 26, 2011.
Following the allocation, the police surveillance system was said to have been left in dire straits as all the walkie-talkies recently acquired by the force had been rendered useless.
The spectrum to which they are supposed to be connected has been “illegally hijacked by the NCC.” Sources also revealed that the 450MHZ frequency is valued at over $50m but was sold for less than $6m by the Dr. Eugene Juwahled NCC on September 26, 2011 to Open Skys. However, it was gathered that the immediate NCC Executive Vice-Chairman, Mr. Ernest Ndukwe, attempted a provisional reservation offer for the same spectrum to Open Skys on February 4, 2009, but the deal appeared to have elapsed due to nonpayment of stipulated fees within one month. It was also gathered that if the award of the 450MHZ spectrum was allowed to sail through, it would block the operations of the voice communication component of the $470m national security network that had mounted cameras in Abuja and Lagos.
Aside the disruption, sources said the nation was losing over N7bn as Open Skys paid $6m for a facility valued at $50m by experts in the industry.
Experts had also contended that if government chose to retune the security system to another frequency, the additional loss to government could amount to between $45m and $200m for the equipment, and about $300m for the new spectrum, if 800MHZ was used.
National Mirror learnt that the attraction to the 450Mhz spectrum ban was its wider cell reach or broad scope that allowed the police to carry out surveillance across the country without hitches.
Similarly, apart from the controversial 450Mhz spectrum, another spectrum slot allegedly sold under questionable circumstances was the 800MHz digital dividend band.
It was gathered that 800MHz digital dividend band was another lucrative spectrum slot sold to Smile Communications Limited, also “with utter disregard for due process.”
Meanwhile, the NCC in a statement issued on October 4, 2012 and signed by its Media and Public Relations, Mr. Reuben Muoka, said there was no frequency racketeering at NCC.
According to the NCC, “The commission has been inundated by calls from concerned citizens over a story in one of the national dailies which alleged frequency racketeering, with an insinuation that the management of the commission has sold a frequency slot belonging to the police to a private firm, Open Skys.
“The story also insinuated that the current leadership of the commission has issued frequencies to Smile Communications without due process.
“There is no truth in both allegations.
“However, we wish, for the benefit of the Nigerian public and all the industry stakeholders as follows that the story in its entirety lacks basic understanding of frequency allocation and its processes involved, resulting in unsubstantiated information capable of misleading the public and industry stakeholders,”