The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has replied The Daily Times over its request for detailed information on Etisalat’s loans, which led to the pulling out of the telecommunication company from Nigeria.
However, after a series of crises, including resignation of its erstwhile chairman, Mr. Hakeem Bello Osagie, members of board and key management staff of the telecom firm, the company has since changed its name to 9mobile. The Daily Times had, on July 4, 2017, invoked the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, seeking information on the alleged crisis in Etisalat Nigeria, following a huge debt of about $1.2billion (N541billion) it had incurred from 13 Nigerian lender banks.
The Daily Times has also sought full information on what transpired in Etisalat and the propriety of CBN’s action on depositors’ funds involved in the loans; as well as, information on the motives behind the new appointments in Etisalat and the alleged plans of a business mogul to take over the telecoms’ firm at the end of the transitory six-month period. Responding to The Daily Times enquiry, the CBN had, in a letter signed by O.N. Onyeoziri, for the Director of Corporate Secretariat, assured the newspaper that it would provide the information in a short while.
The apex bank, in the letter dated, July 11, 2017, with reference No: CSD/FOI/GEN/REQ/04/084, titled: ‘Re: FOI: Request for Information on Etisalat Loans,’ said, “We refer to your letter dated July 4, 2017, on the above matter and wish to inform you that the request is being processed and we will revert to you as soon as possible.”
The Daily Times had exclusively reported on how high wire politics and horse trading played active role over the loans crisis. The newspaper also raided issues on why the committees of both the Senate and House of Representatives on Banking and Telecommunications did not intervene on the matter since the depositors’ funds were involved in the loans crisis that engulfed the then Nigeria’s fourth largest mobile operator, Etisalat Nigeria .
This newspaper had also reported that the appointments of Mr. Boye Olusanya as the new CEO and Funke Ighodaro as the new CFO were at the instance of a business mogul (names withheld) who is using his financial clout to take over Etisalat. Olusanya and Ighodaro are said to have a strong link to the businessman.
It was further alleged that the game plan was to assist their benefactor in acquiring the telecom firms at the end of six-month’ transitory period, as directed by the CBN and the National Communications Commission (NCC).
The development, Daily Times gathered, is being viewed with mixed feelings in certain quarters as to whether the action is fair or in public interest as the loans in question are depositors’ funds in the said 13 banks.
Although the new interim management of the telecom firm has changed the name from Etisalat to 9mobile following the pulling out of its shareholders, there remained many unsettled issues that may prove intractable in the nearest future and impact the company negatively.
Close observers of the latest development in the telecommunications outfit say that, the bubble might soon bust, following the fledging move to save the company from its sinking boat.
They contend that with massive reduction its subscriber base, following mass migration of millions of its customers and scorning by potential ones, there might yet not be a smooth sail for the embattled company.
It was learnt that apart from operating on a tough business terrain, especially against the backdrop of the ongoing recession in the country, 9mobile, whose new name has been described as mere ‘cosmetic business approach,’ may, after all, not be persuasive for many Nigerians to invest in.
