Minister of Communications asks UN body to sack ex-NCC director for exposing corruption

Even though she has managed to keep a low-profile since joining the federal cabinet, Minister of Communications Technology, Mrs Omobola Johnson, is in the news lately for asking the United Nations’ International Telecommunication Union (ITU), to remove, the former executive Commissioner of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), from his job at the body.

Dr. Gwandu was December last year fired by President Goodluck Jonathan over controversial secret spectrum allocations to some companies at ridiculous amounts.

He had exposed the lopsidedness in federal government’s sale of 450 MHz Spectrum to an unlicensed company- OpenSky – reportedly owned by Mr. Emeka Offor and Associates wherein they paid $6 million for a license that should have fetched the nation over $50 million.

Secondly, the waiver granted to MTS – a company that was linked to NCC Chief Executive Officer Dr. Eugene Juwah, at the expense of other companies operating in the industry.

The third issues was the selling of 800 MHz spectrum to a company called Smile Nigeria Communications Limited at about 13 million euros when equivalent spectrum was sold in Germany, Italy and France for 1.153 billion euros, 992 million euros and 891 million euros respectively.

For undermining the interest of the country in relation to the operations of the UN body, the minister in a letter with ref no: MC/ST.01631T4, dated April 12, 2013 and addressed to the Secretary General of the ITU, wants the union to sack Gwandu, not only as the chairman or vice-chair of the two organs but also as a representative or delegate of Nigeria.

But Gwandu has filed a legal action against his removal before the National Industrial Court (NIC) in Abuja, challenging the propriety of his removal.

It is noteworthy that it was during the pendency of the suit that the minister wrote the said letter under reference to the ITU.

The move by the minister has in the meantime blocked the participation of Gwandu from operating as the elected chairman of the technical body, the RAG, and from operating as vice-chairman and potential chairman of another technical body of the ITU – the Joint Task Group, JTG-4-5-6-7.

Despite glaring corrupt practices in its Ministries, Department and Agencies, the federal government continue to look the other way.

President Jonathan at a meeting on power generation recently maintained that “Corruption in Nigeria is not as bad as people say it is.”

He made the statement in an apparent response to the latest report by the US State Department on governance in the country.

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