Opinion
Nigeria: Huge MTN fine shows Buhari administration will not tolerate disregard of law by big business
So, for anyone, any company doing business in that region, issues of security and public safety should have paramount importance, one would have thought. It is almost inconceivable that any company operating in the area, would ignore these grim realities.
It is not clear what made MTN fail to comply with the registration requirement, seeing that the same condition applies in its home country, South Africa.
Idle Speculation
In my view, it was proper to fine the company for that dangerous transgression. It may seem like idle speculation, but who knows how many people lost their lives to Boko Haram attacks facilitated by untraceable SIM cards sold by the company?
How much property was destroyed, and how much psychological trauma caused?
MTN can consider itself fortunate that the fine may be revised downwards – the Nigerian Communications Commission having reduced it by a third, after some protracted negotiations.
It says something about the mellowing of Buhari – that his administration could listen to the pleadings of the firm and grant them at least a partial reprieve.
Still, the fine remains big enough to make other companies think twice before they ignore the security concerns and regulations of their hosts.
But there is much more that the cell phone companies operating in Africa could do, apart from paying unfailing attention to issues of security and public safety. Hardly 20 years ago, much of Africa could not tell a cell phone from a packet of cigarettes. But now almost every African man and woman above the age of 15 has a cell phone. Many have two or three.
Many of those who own these devices have contracted an acute form of “telephonitis” – a rare disease whose patients just cannot leave their phones alone.
