ICPC: Pinnacle Communication
ICPC: Pinnacle Communication Reacts to Investigation of
NBC, DSO
The Management of Pinnacle Communications Limited is constrained to
issue this statement as a matter of record in response to the
flurry of news reports in the media on Thursday evening copiously
quoting a statement allegedly attributed to the spokesperson of the
Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission
(ICPC), Rasheedat Okoduwa disclosing that the Commission was
investigating the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission over the
“misapplication of N2.5 billion seed grant released to the agency
by the federal government for its digital switch-over programme”
for which the Commission has so far quizzed the Director General,
Dr. Ishaq Moddibbo Kawu, and other top management staff of the
agency over their alleged involvements in the misapplication of the
fund”.
In view of the references made to Pinnacle Communications
Limited in connection with the investigation and the necessity of
providing the correct account of the involvement of Pinnacle
Communications Limited in the issues raised, which were
deliberately omitted and/or distorted in the ICPC spokesperson’s
alleged statement as widely reported in the media, we hereby state
as follows:
1. Pinnacle Communications Limited is the only private licensed
signal distributor for the Federal Government approved
implementation of the Transition from Analogue to Digital
Terrestrial Television Broadcasting in Nigeria in accordance with
the 2012 Government White Paper section 11.2 (a) which approved
that “more than one signal distributor be licensed in addition to
NTA, the public licensed signal distributor. Another signal
distributor should be licensed immediately.”
2. In the year 2014, Pinnacle Communications Limited emerged
successful bidder out of 9 companies after a rigorous public tender
and full compliance with due process. Pinnacle Communications was
licensed following payment of the stipulated license fees to the
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), NOT NIGERIAN BROADCASTING
CORPORATION as stated in the alleged press release of ICPC
spokesperson.
3. Since then, Pinnacle Communications Limited has been a major
facilitator of the Digital Switch Over (DSO) implementation process
in Nigeria, notably as the broadcast signal distributor for the
National Launch of the DSO in Abuja in 2016 at its state-of-the-art
Broadcast Centre on Mpape Hill, performed by His Excellency, Yemi
Osinbajo, Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The
Company was also responsible for the Kaduna Digital Broadcast
Signal Distribution Centre commissioned in 2017 by the Kaduna State
Governor, His Excellency, Nasir Ahmed El-Rufai.
4. This factual background to the involvement of Pinnacle
Communications Limited in the DSO project in Nigeria is contrary to
the alleged statements attributed to the ICPC spokesperson that the
company was “fraudulently recommended to the Minister of
Information and Culture for the release of N2.5 billion against the
guidelines contained in the White Paper” and further reference to
Pinnacle Communications as “an unqualified company.” The 2014
licensing of Pinnacle Communications in the DSO predates the
appointment of the current DG of NBC in 2016.
5. The DSO is all about the transition from Analogue to Digital
Terrestrial Television (DTT).
Broadcast Engineering is a field in which Pinnacle Communications
Limited has earned recognition and patronage for more than two
decades of expertise and dependability of world class service and
installations across Nigeria.
6. Neither the DSO nor Pinnacle Communications Limited has
anything to do with “migration of telephone lines from analogue to
digital platforms” as the ICPC spokesperson is alleged to have
stated.
7. Pinnacle Communications maintain that the facts and
clarifications provided above sufficiently define the context and
extent of its involvement in the implementation of the DSO program
in Nigeria and the nature of its working relationship with the
National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).
8. While noting that the ICPC spokesperson allegedly stated that
the Commission was investigating “misapplication of N2.5 billion
seed grant released to the agency (NBC) by the federal government
for its digital switch-over programme” we wish to clearly emphasize
that Pinnacle Communications Limited has not and cannot as a
licensee of NBC trespass into the statutory functions of the NBC
and/or the Federal Ministry of Information on the implementation of
the DSO program.
9. To this extent therefore, all transactions between NBC and
Pinnacle Communications have always been transparent and within the
official approved operational guidelines and regulations as
processed and executed by the NBC and in compliance with the terms
and conditions of the license for signal distribution that Pinnacle
Communications duly obtained.
10. Having made all the necessary statements in response to the
ICPC’s investigations and taking cognisance of the pendency of Suit
No FHC/ABJ/CS/779/2018 that Pinnacle Communications instituted in
July 2018 in the Federal High Court, Abuja on a related matter
against ICPC and 2 others,(NOT RELATED TO STOPPING ANY
INVESTIGATION BY ICPC) Pinnacle Communications considers it
unprofessional, ill-advised, injudicious, prejudicial and unfair
for the ICPC spokesperson to make as alleged random references to
disjointed portions of comprehensive submissions to its
investigators, clearly skewed to portray Pinnacle Communications
Limited as complicit in the alleged or any “misapplication” of
funds by the NBC, over which Pinnacle Communications have no
responsibility or control. Pinnacle Communications challenges the
ICPC spokesperson, if the alleged press release was indeed made by
her, to publish the full statements made to the ICPC by Pinnacle
officials.
11. Moreover, if truly made, the ICPC statement went beyond mere
announcement of on-going investigations into the realm of
unsubstantiated incriminations in the fashion of trial-by-media
that invariably paints a premature and amateur picture of guilt,
prior to judicial determination.
12. In the circumstance, Pinnacle Communications Limited shall
refrain from further clarification of the muddled statement
allegedly issued by the ICPC spokesperson in its firm belief that
judicial process will provide the appropriate and fair opportunity
to comprehensively and decisively prove its hard-earned reputation
as a world class company that, unlike the ICPC spokesperson,
upholds integrity, ethics and legality in all its transactions, in
accordance with international best practices.
13. Pinnacle Communications wishes to assure NBC, stakeholders
in the DSO, its staff, international and local business associates
and numerous clients that it remains committed to meeting all its
obligations notwithstanding the malicious statement by the ICPC
spokesperson.
DIPO ONIFADE
COO
PINNACLE COMMUNICATIONS LIMITED