NCC criticises Falana’s claims on N600b yearly loss

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).”