A top official at Nigeria’s communications regulator the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has been accused of misconduct in the award of a one-billion Naira waiver to MTS, a telecommunications company, claims which the officials deny.
According to the accusation, Dr. Eugene Juwah, NCC’s executive vice chairman, was instrumental in the approval of the waiver to MTS, a company he had worked at for several years before his appointment as the executive vice chairman of the regulatory commission.
Juwah has, however, described the allegations as “mischievous lies.”
In an interview he said, contrary to claims, that he had never owned MTS and was never its chief executive officer.
He also said neither he nor the NCC was not part of any waiver recommendation for MTS.
Concerning his history with MTS, he said he joined the embattled company in 2001 as a consultant and was soon approached to assume the position of the company’s executive director. However, he said he was never the company’s CEO since Chief Lulu Briggs’ massive investment in the company had made him the company’s single owner.
“I never ran MTS for one day as CEO. I never obtained or signed for any loan on behalf of MTS and I challenge anyone to bring me a document showing where I signed for a loan on behalf of MTS,” he stated.
Juwah said the claims were the work of unscrupulous elements that are not in support of the incumbent administration, who he said are “fond of coming up with frivolous and ludicrous accusations over and over again.”
“It is now obvious that there is a motive and agenda by some unscrupulous elements who are enemies of this administration and who are bent on stopping us from excelling. First it was spectrum now it’s MTS; Nigerians are laughing and waiting for what is next from these same people,” he said.
