THE Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) on Thursday said the Commission and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had moved to mediate in the Etisalat credit issue.
The Director of Public Affairs of NCC, Mr Tony Ojobo said this in an announcement issued in Abuja.
“After a meeting on Thursday afternoon in Abuja between the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta and the CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele and his team, a decision was reached to intervene in the loan issue between Etisalat Nigeria and a consortium of commercial banks.
“The meeting which was held at the CBN in Abuja was convened by the financial regulator at the instance of NCC and the telecom regulator to further deliberate on how best to stop the attempt by the banks to take over Etisalat.
“At the end of the meeting, the CBN agreed to invite Etisalat management and the banks to a meeting tomorrow, Friday, toward finding an amicable resolution,” he said.
Ojobo said that the NCC as a controller of the telecom business had moved rapidly to intercede before in the week by contacting the CBN in light of the fact that it was persuaded of the negative effect such takeover move would have on the business.
He included that NCC was stressed over the destiny of the more than 20 million Etisalat supporters and the wrong flags this may send to potential financial specialists in the Telecom business.
It was accounted for that on March 8, Etisalat was had been assumed control by three banks as a result of its N541.8 billion obligation.
Nonetheless, the Head of Public Relations, Etisalat Nigeria, Ms Oluseyi Osuntedo, dissipated the discussion that banks had assumed control over the organization. Osuntedo said that dialogs were all the while continuous between the banks and the organization.
“Discussions are going on; nobody is taking up the company.
“It is not true that we are being picketed, whoever gave the information is not telling the truth,” she said.
A consortium of some outside and Nigerian banks, including Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank, have been having a running fight with the cell phone administrator, over a credit office totalling 1.72 billion dollars (about N541.8 billion) acquired in 2015.
The banks said their endeavor to recuperate the credit definitely, was fuelled by the weight from the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), requesting quick cut down on the rate of their non-performing advances.
NCC shows up not to be positively arranged to the takeover proposition as it trusted that Etisalat is a practical going worry, as well as eager and ready to arrange the adjusting of its credits.
Etisalat is Nigeria’s fourth biggest telecoms administrator with around 21 million endorsers as at January 2017, as indicated by the NCC.
It initiated business in Nigeria in 2009.
