have thrown their weight behind the Nigerian Communications Commission
(NCC) over the N2.1trillion fine it slammed on MTN.In a communique issued after the meeting in Abuja, and signed by Chairman
of the Forum and Governor of Zamfara State, Abdulaziz Yari, the governors
said that the telecom service provider must pay up in full.
According to the communique the governors’ support for the NCC came after
the Acting Executive Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Professor
Umar Dambata, briefed the governors on the matter.
While the forum congratulated Dambata for his appointment and pledged its
commitment to engage with the NCC, the NGF also commended the regulatory
agency for “its strict compliance and enforcement of the law with regards
to the fine issued to MTN and advised the Federal Government to ensure
prompt and full payment.”
“Hence the MTN has accepted that they committed the offense and has
apologized, and they are looking for leniency, we the governors forum
decided to support the NCC to abide by the laws of the land and the laws
of our land do not give leniency to deliberate offense to our nation,”
the Forum stated.
The Governors also resolved to meet President Muhammadu Buhari as part of
measures to find a way out the country’s economic woes.
They said they were finding it difficult to pay salaries and meet up with
their obligations, which they attributed to the dwindling monthly
allocations occasioned by plummeting crude oil price.
The governors said they could no longer bear the N18,000 minimum wage that
was imposed on them when oil sold for $126 as against its present cost of
$41.
They said the way out of the situation was the diversification of the
economy with attention to agriculture and mining.
“We resolved that we must look at ways to enhance revenue generation and
at the same time look at ways to cut our overhead costs more especially
the political office holders’ salaries and other overhead expenses,” they
said.
“The situation is no longer the same when we were asked to pay N18,000
minimum wage, when oil price was $126 (per barrel) and continued paying
N18,000 minimum wage when the oil is $41 and the source of government
expenditure is from oil, and we have not seen prospects in the oil
industry in the near future.
“We will diversify our economy in the area of agriculture and mining. But
at the same time, we should understand our situation where some of us
(states) today are taking N100million take home (monthly allocation) and
the have salaries in particular of over N2billion to pay.
“We therefore agreed here to take this suggestion to NEC in our meeting
tomorrow (Thursday) so that we can be able to find ways to tackle this
problem.
“And we are looking at coming together to discussing with Mr. President
and his team, with governors, technocrats and experts in the economy to
see how we can tackle our troubled situation. We are working harder to
deal with it,” the governors said.