Abuja — Two government agencies in Abuja, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC and its counterpart, the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency, NESREA, are locked in regulation tussle over one of MTN Nigeria’s telecom facilities in Abuja.
NESREA two weeks ago sealed the base station facility located at EFAB Estate, Mbora District, Abuja over alleged non compliance with proper Environmental Impact Assessment.
However, NCC, Monday, unsealed the facility, claiming that MTN passed the regulator’s stipulated standard of five metres away from residential building while deploying the facility.
But NESREA, yesterday, resealed the facility, claiming that NCC opened the facility without lawful authority.
Director, Inspection and Enforcement of NESREA, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, who led NESREA team of Inspection and Enforcement officials to reseal the premises, insisted that the base station should remain shut for allegedly violating environmental laws and falling short on its regulation of 10 metres set back from a residential area.
Soyombo said her agency had acted following numerous complaints from angry residents and its investigations which discovered that the facility was only 1.2 metres from the nearest house.
The agency also slammed a fine of N5 million on MTN on the alleged default, adding that there was also a daily fine of N50,000 for as long as the operator fails to comply.
According to her, “no one is bigger than the law. MTN must be made to operate by the rules and regulations. Besides the N5 million, we are going to press charges against MTN for acting outside the confines of the law and also for illegally removing a seal which was put by NESREA. That is a criminal offence against the Federal Republic of Nigeria.”
Reopening of the station
While reopening the facility, Monday, Director, Public Affairs of the NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, had said the commission would henceforth frown at any government agency that interferes with the work of the commission.
He said the guidelines from the commission stated that a minimum of five metres distance is acceptable but NESREA Acts states 10 metres.
According to him, “NCC had to unseal the mast which was sealed two weeks ago by NESREA under the guise that the mast was less than 10 metres from buildings as stipulated in their guidelines.
“NCC is the regulator of the telecoms sector, our guidelines stated that it should be five metres setback but the MTN mast is 5.6 metres away from the surrounding structures, but without consulting us they sealed the bay station. NCC will not allow any contradicting regulator to close any base stations because the commission is working hard to see that the quality of services improve in the country.”
Ojobo added that “operators should be allowed to do their jobs. We don’t have any issue against any secondary regulator but they should come to us first to see how we can ensure compliance. We must maintain our standards and ensure consistency and investors must be sure of the rules and abide by it. No other agency should interfere or challenge our guidelines.”
NCC warns
Also, NCC’s Head of Compliance and Monitoring, Mr. Ephriam Nwokenneya corroborated Ojobo, saying Nesrea should focus more on environmental issues rather than making undue interference in the telecommunication sector.
NCC also warned the Agency to keep off telecom regulatory activities, reminding it that there is only one telecom regulatory agency in Nigeria, which is the NCC itself.
The NCC argued that NESREA had no regulatory power over telecom facilities.
NCC and NESREA have been at war over NESREA’s harassment of operators they alleged did not carry out proper environmental impact assessment before deploying mast and towers.
The agency, in the last one year, hadsealed off facilities of many operators, aggravating the ailing service quality the operators have.
However, NCC top officials had at different times engaged the top officials of NESREA on discussion where after each visit, a picture of resolution is often painted
Written by CODED-ish
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