SAN FRANCISCO, November 09, (THEWILL) – A survey carried out last week on the $5.2 billion fine slammed on MTN Nigeria by the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) showed that 90 percent of Nigerians believe it is a welcome development, especially going by the security challenges MTN unregistered SIMs pose to the society.
It would be recalled that the mobile line used in negotiating Chief Olu Falae’s release after his kidnap in September was one of the MTN unregistered lines. This was what prompted the Nigerian security agencies to mount pressure on the NCC to do something about unregistered SIMs, which added to the reasons the NCC had to slam MTN, according to an insider, who craved anonymity.
“The management of MTN thought it would be business as usual, even after series of letters from the NCC to it, they just refused to act right,” he said.
Although, the MTN Group said Chief Executive Officer Sifiso Dabengwa had resigned from Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company following the all-time record fine, and Non-Executive Chairman Phuthuma Nhleko has agreed to act as executive chairman for a maximum period of six months while the company identifies a successor to Dabengwa, more heads are expected to roll, especially in the management, which could not read the “handwriting on the wall,” even with the ‘change’ Buhari has consistently preached, another expert said.
