The fate of the over 20 million subscribers to the Etisalat network continues to hang over a N541.8 billion debt the telecommunication company owes three banks.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is believed to be making frantic efforts to rescue the company from being taken over by the banks.
The CBN is making efforts in conjunction with NCC to rescue Etisalat
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the director of public affairs at NCC, Mr Tony Ojobo, said in a statement 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.”
The statement further quotes Ojobo as saying that the NCC as a regulator of the telecom industry had moved quickly to intervene earlier in the week by reaching out to the CBN because it was convinced of the negative impact such takeover move would have on the industry.
He revealed that the NCC was worried about the fate of the over 20 million Etisalat subscribers and the wrong signals this might send to potential investors in the Telecom industry.
The Head of Public Relations, Etisalat Nigeria, Ms Oluseyi Osuntedo, is said to have denied that the company had been taken over by the banks.
Osuntedo said in Lagos that discussions were still ongoing between the banks and the company.
“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 reportedly said.
NAN said a consortium of some foreign and Nigerian banks, including Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank, had engaged in a long battle with the mobile telephone operator over the loan facility totalling 1.72 billion dollars (about N541.8 billion) obtained in 2015.
The banks said they were under pressure from the Asset Management Company of Nigeria which is demanding immediate a cut down on the rate of their non-performing loans.
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