By Adedapo Adesanya
The Federal Capital Development Authority (FCDA) has threatened to seal up the business premises of M/S Globacom Nigeria Limited in Abuja over failure to pay N1.3 billion debt allegedly owed for the lease of telecommunication ducts network in the nation’s capital city.
The ultimatum given by the Authority to M/S Globacom Nigeria to pay up or have its premises sealed up had since August 12, 2021, elapsed, according to a statement from the FCDA Board.
The statement on Friday explained that the telecommunications duct network in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) is one of the underground infrastructures provided to house the telecommunications industry.
Each and all telecommunications providers are allowed to lease ¼ duct space in the city at a token.
It noted that over the years, many telecommunications service providers have leased the various length of telecommunications duct in the FCT spanning across the developed districts of the Federal Capital City (FCC), of which one of such lessees is M/S Globacom Nigeria Limited with a commencement date of 2004.
However, Globacom was said to have over the years defaulted in the renewal of the “lease rate” in the agreement entered with the Authority.
As of date, Globacom’s indebtedness to the Authority stands at N1,337,441,027.60 and all efforts made to recover this debt have failed and every attempt to get M/S Globacom Nigeria Limited to reason with FCDA and make payments have yielded no positive results.
FCDA noted that it was resorting to this approach due to Globacom’s nonchalant attitude towards the reconciliatory efforts made by the Authority and the company’s failure to respond to the series of reminders and warning letters sent to it.
It was noted that on Wednesday, September 8, 2021, the board members, alongside the key management team of the FCDA, picketed the business premises of M/S Globacom Nigeria in Abuja to drive home the expiration of the ultimatum earlier given by the Authority.
Speaking during the exercise, the Acting Executive Secretary of the FCDA, Zaliha’u Ahmed, noted that, “We have put in a lot of resources to give them facilities and services to carry out their businesses.
“We maintain these telecom ducts with a lot of funds from the government. However, they are unwilling to cooperate by not paying the charges they are supposed to pay. So, in view of that, we are trying to see how we can as much as possible recover our funds.”
Also speaking, the Chairman of Finance and General-Purpose Committee of the FCDA Board, Mr Hussaini Monguno stated that, “if they don’t pay the debt, we know what to do. They have signed an agreement and the content of the agreement is very rich. We can do quite a lot. We can seal up this place, we can disconnect them.”
He added Globacom is not the only Private Telecoms Operator (PTO) that is owing FCDA, but quite a number of them have settled their bills.
“FCDA has given you an enabling environment to operate your business. They constructed telecommunication ducts for which your fibre cables are laid. You must pay for those services.
“We have written, we have called for reconciliation, nothing was done. We are just here to identify their infrastructure and do the needful. You will hear from us very soon,” he added.
