The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says resolving the Etisalat debt issue is an incentive to attract the USD2 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) expected from Mubadala of United Arab Emirates (UAE).
According to a statement issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Mr Tony Ojobo, NCC Director of Public Affairs, Prof. Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman, stated this while receiving Mr Boye Olusanya, Chief Executive of 9Mobile, and Mr Ibrahim Dikko, Vice-President, Regulatory Affairs, in his office in Abuja.
“Resolving the issue was partly to forestall any form of disincentive to the FDI from UAE hanging,” Danbatta said.
He said that if the company had gone under, that would have created a social problem, especially with the job of over 2,000 Nigerians on the line.
“About 20 million subscribers would have been affected if we did not intervene in the matter with a view to finding an amicable resolution.”
Danbatta said that the situation was capable of creating security challenges for the country.
He said that NCC took the interest of investors, subscribers and employees of Etisalat (now 9Mobile) into consideration before intervening in its crisis.
“We consider the interest of stakeholders of Etisalat (now 9Mobile) before we resolved to align with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to resolve the issue along with the consortium of 13 banks.”
