MTN Must Face The Consequencies of Covetousness !

ZION B-BC NEWSLETTER. A Publication of the Zion Faith Bible-Believing Church, Kpeyegyi, Abuja Nigeria. [VOL. 4. NO 116. 1st November, 2015.} “…ONLY The Truth, Will Set You Free! (John.8:32).

MTN MUST FACE THE CONSEQUENCIES OF COVETOUSNESS!

Before the year 2014 when Nigeria was adjudged the largest economy and international commercial destination in Africa, South Africa had been the commercial nerve centre and the industrial attraction of world business gurus but with Nigeria’s superficially imposed image, a very cold diplomatic war brewed silently between the two big developing black nations! First, a privately-owned jet aircraft loaned by a Nigerian Pastor to transfer raw green notes of United States dollars totaling $9.3million, was apprehended and seized by South African anti-graft security agents in one of their local airports in view of the illegality of the whole transaction which involved the physical presence of an ex-South-South militant who escorted other members of crew to “purchase arms for the Federal Government of the Peoples Democratic (PDP), government of that period to fight Boko Haram terrorism! We have been reliably informed that the said amount would now be repatriated to Nigeria on 30 November, 2015, as a gesture of camaraderie to the new Change government of President Buhari! Second, in that same year, another diplomatic row ensued when a pastor’s six-storey building in Lagos State collapsed suddenly and killed more than 89 South Africans on pilgrimage to a self-acclaimed prophet in Nigeria – the flame of the ugly incident is yet to die! Now, MTN Nigeria, a subsidiary of MTN South Africa, Africa’s biggest mobile phone operator, is kicking off another diplomatic row by imploring the South African government to intervene and mitigate a fine imposed on it by Nigeria’s communications regulator, in the third week of October 2015 for contravening communications regulations in Nigeria! We will implore South African authorities to stand clear of this case which smells of covetousness and greed and by extension, a security breach on the part of their over ambitious ambassadors! A common trait of impunity runs through the veins and arteries of criminals, law breakers, covenant and truce breakers who, having infringed and contravened all manner of statutes or commandments either by default, commission or omission would always prefer to escape the consequences of chastisement or punishment! The recent exhibition of protests displayed by MTN Nigeria – a subsidiary of MTN South Africa, over a fine of N1 .4trillion (USD $5.2billion), by communications regulator, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), for infringement over Subscriber Identification Module (SIM), deactivation, was the highest form of irresponsibility and impunity by a major service provider of its caliber, and a show of executive rascality by its management board because the organization was privy and also a signatory to the fine template of N200.000 naira per unregistered SIM after the set deadline! MTN Nigeria failed to fully deactivate 52 million subscribers with unregistered SIM Card details on its networks within the stipulated deadline given to all mobile phone operators in the country to comply with its directive! THIS SERVICE PROVIDER WAS GIVEN TILL 16 NOVEMBER, 2015 TO PAY UP THE FINE OR FACE STIFFER PENALTIES! It should be noted by all and sundry that the era of disobedience to lawful orders and business as usual in Nigeria where the doctrine of rule of law is now well-grounded would no longer be tolerated – not by alien corporate bodies which were always out to infringe and corrupt governance through all forms of manipulations of the system. MTN Nigeria should understand that the time of bribing Nigerian Legislators with exotic mobile phones plus customized SIM Cards and the annual supply of credit cards are over and discarded in this period of national re-orientation, stabilization and sanitization! MTN Nigeria had displayed reckless greed and covetousness since 2002 when it debuted as a major service provider because it found gullible officials who would collect bribe even from the dead during failed administrations which were laced with executive-aided corruption which stank to high heavens! In spite of the fact that it came second after ECONET, it quickly embraced the fifty naira per minute billing without caring for the economic conditions and pecuniary situation of the masses – in fact it foisted a mantra of restricting the facility to the upper echelon of the society that can afford the exorbitant rates to the detriment of other considerations of citizens civil obligations like information gathering for crime prevention and security breaches! MTN SIM cards were sold for between N16.000 and 20.000 while the least of small handsets sold for N30.000 naira and above and the least amount of credit that could be loaded at that obnoxious period was N1.500. 00, until Globacom, an indigenous communications Service Provider invaded the scene in 2003 and broke MTN’s jinx by introducing per second call billing charges which the MTN claimed would take about FIVE YEARS to achieve because of their greed! According to REUTERS NEWS AGENCY, MTN Group now seeks to reduce the sanction by involving diplomatic intervention as its Shares on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), fell continuously following the news of the USD $5.2 fine imposed on the company’s Nigerian subsidiary as investors scrambled to cut their losses which had gone up to 16% in the last week of October, 2015! It is on record that MTN Nigeria garnered at least ONE BILLION NAIRA daily from subscribers for very poor, very irritating and very nauseating services rendered in the last 10 years of stiff competition by other major service providers and in a particular year declared a profit of N72 billion naira after tax, so it is convenient to assume that it could pay the fine without a sweat although their apologists insinuated that the fine could wipe out more than two years of their annual profit! Although MTN is still pursuing the possibility of canvassing a reduction of the fine, we opine that they be reminded of the African adage which states that: “Whatever a covetous person greedily amassed would always turn out as his undoing in monumental loss!” Some commercial analysts have expressed that MTN’s loss could also affect Nigeria’s international investment portfolio negatively if the fine was not reviewed downward but we beg to disagree and opine that it was better that the service provider outfit pay its fine to the last cent, sell or dismantle its operations in Nigeria in order to save Nigeria the continuous embarrassment of constant COMMUNICATIONS SECURITY BREACHES! *Did you know that SIM Cards registration was the brain-child of all Nigerian security agencies initiated since 2008 to assist in resolving crimes perpetrated through the use of phones in which criminal elements could not be identified with the number of the phones they used? *Did you also know that that the kidnapping of elder statesman and former Secretary to the Federal Government (SGF), in September 2015, further compounded matters for MTN Nigeria, according to Reuters, when the service provider could not provide requisite information on its mobile numbers that were used by the kidnappers to negotiate a ransom with Falae’s family members? We would want to ask Nigerian subscribers who have been shortchanged for so long this very salient question, “Should MTN be allowed to jeopardize and breach our security arrangements with impunity or made to pay the fine and thereafter be expelled to allow for a quick end to Boko Haram terrorism or be allowed to continue business as usual to the detriment of other service providers which had consistently provided patriotic, diligent and quality services? Should we quickly forget MTN’s many deficiencies and fallibilities? Regular failure of network connections, breaks in conversation transmissions, outrageous billing systems, outright deductions from clients’ accounts for services not rendered, UNSOLICITED AND VEXTATIOUS SMS’s; deliberate invasion of private phone with all manner of perverse advertisements, forceful and criminal “conscription” of the clientele’ to subscribe to all manner spurious and dubious scams; bombardment and abuse of phone privacy though incessant and irrelevant calls 24/7; disappearance of credit balance from phone at the whim and caprice of the MTN service provider ; data plans conscription under the unknown “terms and conditions applicable”! Those who were patient to pursue their fundamental rights to the MTN Nigeria CUSTOMER CARE CENTRE have many sorry tales to tell – “you can stay glued forever without being attended to”! Should we go on? THE 10 COMMANDMENT SAYS, “THOU SHALL NOT COVET…….”! Other service providers should learn their lessons and remain focused as partners in progress with the new government which is progressively cleaning and cleansing the AUGEAN STABLE! The security of Nigeria must always take precedence in all business and commercial transactions ! A word is sufficient for the WISE! Amen. Please look forward to more divine revelation in the next edition of Zion B-BC Newsletter as you share this with friends and remain blessed in the Lord. [For weekly access, to this newsletter, log on to: facebook.com/zionfaithbible.believingchurch or http://www.zfbbc1.blogspot.com, https://www.google.com/+zionfaithbiblebelievingchurch.

If you have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, don’t miss this great opportunity as you pray this prayer: Lord Jesus; I confess that I am a sinner who needs to be saved through the grace of the New Testament of your Blood, shed on the Cross at Calvary; I renounce every sin in my life and accept you as my Lord and Saviour. Please forgive me and write my name in the Book of Life. Amen. If you prayed this prayer, you have been admitted into the family of sons and daughters of God, who are born-again. Congratulations. I am, yours sincerely, Dr. David B.A. Olufon, Resident Pastor and Editor.08130669886, 08098194390.g-mail- dvdolufon@gmail.com.