[next] The Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communication commissions (NCC), Ernest Ndukwe, was on Monday, arrested by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) at the communications commission's office in Abuja.
The EFCC spokesperson, Femi Babafemi, who confirmed the development saying "he [Mr. Ndukwe] was arrested today and is in our custody".
He said Mr. Ndukwe is alleged to have illegally withdrawn the licence of the company that had won the bid for the supply of the nation's telecommunications Wi-max Services.
The spokesman did not name the company ,however NEXT gathered from a source in the telecom industry that the NCC boss is accused of having withdrawn the licence granted to Galaxy Wireless, one of the forty companies that tendered a bid for the latest sale of a 2.3GHZ spectrum, and given it instead to Multilinks Telkom.
The EFCC's spokeperson confirmed that Mr. Ndukwe's arrest has to do with licenses he issued without due process, saying he granted a controversial waiver totalling over N242 million to a company named Mobitel which owed the commission N246 million.
Mr Babafemi said the company which was able to raise the N1.3 billion license fee in five days was subsequently granted the waiver which enabled them to pay little more than N3million.
He is also alleged to have spent monies in excess of the budget approved for the commission and also of collecting pension contributions which are meant only for employees of the commission.
These amongst other things were the basis for his arrest, Mr. Babafemi said. He however declined further comments saying investigations are still going on.
All three companies; Galaxy Wireless, Mobitel Nigeria Ltd, and Spectranet Nig Ltd are said to have successfully submitted their bids, on the basis of which the licences were issued only to have them.
NEXT investigations show that payment for the licences opened on April 30 and closed at the end of banking hours on Friday May 8, 2009.
Each of the successful bidders was required to pay a requisite sum of N1.3billion as the bid price.
According to the source who asked not to be named, the NCC replaced Galaxy wireless with Multi links Telecoms and issued the latter a licence even after payment had already been made.
Galaxy Wireless then protested in a petition to the Minister of Information and Communication, Dora Akunyili, whose consent was not sought prior to the bid offer.
The minister forwarded the petition to President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who has now ordered for Mr.Ndukwe's arrest.
The Nigerian Communications Commission is the independent national regulatory authority for the telecommunications industry in Nigeria.
In order to achieve its mandate, the Commission also put in place the necessary licensing and regulatory framework for the supply of telecommunications services.
The commission also facilitates investment and entry into the Nigerian market for the provision and supply of communications services, equipment and facilities
It is mandated to ensure that licenses implement and operate at all times, the most efficient and accurate billing system, while also having the power to grant and renew communications licences in accordance with the provisions of law.
EFCC arrests communications commission boss
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