Apex bank meets telecoms’ firm, financial institutions today
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have agreed to intervene in the loan issue between Etisalat Nigeria and a consortium of commercial banks.
This resolution is coming on the heels of a planned takeover of the telecoms’ firm after it failed to repay the $1.7 billion medium term syndicated loan facility it got from 13 Nigerian banks in 2013.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umaru Danbatta, the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele and teams from both agencies, met in Abuja yesterday where the apex bank agreed to intervene in the matter.
A statement signed by the Director, Public Affairs of NCC, Tony Ojobo, said that the CBN agreed to invite Etisalat management and the banks to a meeting today towards finding an amicable resolution.
Ojobo said the NCC, as a regulator of the telecoms industry, had moved quickly to intervene earlier in the week by reaching out to the CBN to discuss the impact such a take-over will have on the industry.
He said the commission was worried about the fate of the over 20 million Etisalat subscribers and the wrong signals this may send to potential investors in the telecoms industry.
Meanwhile, Etisalat’s Head of Public Relations, Oluseyi Osuntedo, denied claims that they were picketed yesterday by some of the affected banks. “Discussions are on going. Nobody is taking up the company. We are not being picketed. The information is false,” she stated.
Also, The Guardian gathered that the CBN was invited because of its role as the apex bank as well as the only source to intervene on behalf of the consortium of banks with their foreign partners.
Vía The Guardian Nigeria http://ift.tt/2m5OAtI
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