…As NCC queries Falana’s claims on N600bn yearly Telecoms loss***
The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) and the Atiku Media
Office clashed yesterday over an allegation that the presidential candidate of
the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Atiku Abubakar was planning to bring into
the country illicit funds.
In a statement, the BMO alleged the former vice president
Atiku Abubakar plans to flood the country with what it described as illicit
funds in the run-up to the 2019 elections.
Its Chairman, Niyi Akinsiju, and Secretary, Cassidy Madueke,
urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Nigerian Customs Service NCS) and
the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to watch out for illegal
funds’ transfer across the borders.
But Atiku’s Media Adviser Paul Ibe dismissed the allegation
as “another infantile outburst that tells more about the accuser than the
accused.”
Ibe said the PDP standard bearer has no looted funds
anywhere.
In its statement, the BMO accused the former vice of being
desperate to bring money stashed abroad into the country with a view to
outspending the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
It reads: “We have it on good authority that the PDP and its
Presidential candidate are making strenuous efforts to bring in public funds
stashed abroad including those from recent sales of assets in Angola which were
acquired with illicit funds.
“We also know that the former vice president has made
promissory transaction commitments on a number of strategic national assets
including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and a percentage
holding in the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) to a foreign syndicate.
“All these are out of desperation and as a result of his
inability to raise funds from governors elected on PDP platform, many of whom
are themselves locked in stiff battles for their seats.”
According to Akinsiju and Madueke, the decision to bring in
funds by the PDP candidate followed stringent measures put in place by the CBN
and EFCC to ensure sanity in the banking sector.
It alleged that said top officials of the last PDP
government used some third generation banks to funnel public funds to party
officials in all states of the federation before the last election.
The statement added: “It is clear to Atiku Abubakar and PDP
elements that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has put in place a
system that has made it difficult for the type of situation in 2015 where a
former minister could warehouse $115,000,000 (One hundred and fifteen million
dollars) which was then shared among party officials to influence electoral
officials.
“They also know that even the EFCC is very much on the alert
at local airports as seen in the manner its operatives have twice in recent
times intercepted undeclared sums of money running into millions of dollars.
“So these opposition elements are now working out a more
crooked way of bringing in money through the borders in order to circumvent the
system before and during the February 2019 elections”.
The group urged all relevant agencies to double their
efforts to enforce provisions of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act, 2011 (as
amended).
Reacting, Atiku’s spokesman said the former vice president
has a reputation of blocking the transfer of illicit funds.
Ibe said: “For the avoidance of doubt, history shows that
rather than smuggle in looted cash, Waziri Atiku Abubakar has a record of
preventing looted funds from being smuggled into Nigeria.
In 1984, it was Atiku Abubakar, as head of the Murtala
Mohammed International Airport Command of the Nigerian Customs and Excise
Department, that stopped the ADC of the then Military Head of State, Muhammadu
Buhari, from smuggling in 53 suitcases of looted money into the country.
“Young Nigerians and millennials, who may not be aware of
this incident, will do well to Google it. Only the guilty are afraid.”
Ibe quoted what Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai said of
the controversial suitcases, adding that Atiku had survived all the traps set
for him because he had nothing to hide.
He said: “Atiku Abubakar’s plane was searched, his accounts
have been perused and his businesses have been thoroughly investigated with a
fine tooth and nothing remotely corrupt or illegal has been found.
“And while they are at it, we urge them to tell Nigerians
those behind Etisalat and Keystone Bank and how they suddenly possessed such
wealth overnight.”
The Buhari campaign office had defended the President’s
integrity and accused the opposition party of deliberately planning to drag the
name of President Buhari in the mud.
In the meantime, the Nigerian Communications Commission
(NCC) yesterday faulted Lagos lawyer Mr. Femi Falana’s (SAN) claim that the
country was losing about N600 billion due to the failure of the commission to
issue “contract award letter” to a firm that allegedly won the contract for the
implementation of “Revenue Assurance Software”.
Falana had threatened to sue the NCC within two weeks, if it
fails to issue the letter.
The NCC, however, faulted Falana’s claim, assuring
stakeholders in the telecoms industry that it would remain committed to due
process and high integrity in its regulatory roles.
Its Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Management Mr.
Sunday Dare, in a statement, asserted that there was no iota of truth in the
allegation of revenue losses to the tune of N600 billion in the telecom
industry.
Dare said: “Our attention has been drawn to sponsored
reports alleging that the Federal Government of Nigeria is losing up to ‘N600
billion yearly’, ostensibly because of the alleged failure of the NCC to issue
a ‘contract award letter’ to a firm, which supposedly won a contract to
implement a ‘Revenue Assurance Software’.
“Ideally, the commission would not join issues in the media,
on what is essentially an ongoing procurement exercise of a very sensitive
nature. We are, however, obliged to make this clarification so as to set the
records straight, and to reassure stakeholders of the commission’s commitment
to due process, as well as the integrity of its regulatory and other processes,
which were unfairly called into question by the said media publications.
“For the records, there is no iota of truth whatsoever in
the allegation of revenue losses to the tune of N600 billion from the telecoms
industry.
“The NCC’s initiative of implementing a Revenue Assurance
System for the industry was motivated by the commission’s firm belief that
although the telecoms industry currently contributes a significant portion of
the national GDP and government revenues, the industry has the potentials to
generate more revenue for government along its value chain than is currently
the case.
“Also, although the commission has deployed remarkably
stringent processes with which it monitors the industry and collects all due
revenues, we considered it necessary to enhance the effectiveness of these processes
by proactively blocking any potential gaps, through the use of available and
proven cutting-edge technology solutions.
“The Revenue Assurance System is, therefore, to provide an
additional layer of assurance that our licensees continue to meet their
obligations without fail. The wildly exaggerated ‘loss of N600 billion
annually’ to non-implementation of a particular system by a particular vendor
as alleged in the said publications is therefore simply not true.
“The proposed figure is the projected revenue that
consultants claim can be gotten. Until a proof of concept POC is done,
this figure is in the realm of imagination.
“We also wish to clarify that having made the decision to implement a Revenue Assurance System, the NCC has been painstakingly following all mandated due process in its procurement, including engagement with the Bureau of Public Process, the Federal Ministry of Finance and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC).”
The Nation with additional report from The Citizen
