22nd September, 2015
GBENRO ADESINA/IBADAN
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Tuesdya in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, western Nigeria, sealed Skannet General Data Engineering Services located at the Kongi Area of the for not regularising its licence since 2005.
Before shutting down the company, the commission ordered the staff to vacate the premises.
Ibadan Zonal Controller of NCC, Mr Banji Ojo, led the team that carried out the exercise.
Ojo told newsmen that the company was sealed off because it has been running Internet Service Provision (ISP) in the last 10 years without a regularized operating licence and owes N5 million as levies.
“This company has failed to regularise its operating licence which expired in 2005. We have been monitoring them and even met with them on several occasions on this issue but they refused to comply. The last time their Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Sunday Folayan attended one of our meetings in Abuja, he promised to comply and pay instalmentally, but refused to fulfill his promise,” Ojo said.
He explained that henceforth the firm could not transact any business until it complied fully with the rules and regulations of operating such business, adding that the NCC, which had provided opportunities for businesses to thrive, was not interested in shutting down businesses but inisted on absolute compliance with the rules governing telecommunication business in Nigeria.
Ojo warned other erring companies to always comply with the rules of their existence and operations, stressing that the commission would not hesitate to prosecute violators of regulations.
Reacting, one of the managers in the company, Miss Olaide Latinwo, expressed shock over the development, wondering why the NCC had failed to enforce compliance in the last 10 years.
“We received with mixed feelings the allegations that our company has not been law abiding. I believe if truly this is so, the NCC ought to have enforced compliance within the long period,” she said.