Debt: CBN, NCC to meet with Etisalat, banks today

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will today (Friday) meet with Etisalat Nigeria and a consortium of banks over the failure of the telecom company to pay back N541.8billion loan taken from the banks.

The banks - Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank - have been having issues with Etisalat over the loan obtained sometime in 2015.

The loan, with a foreign-backed guaranty bond, was for Etisalat to finance a major network rehabilitation and expansion of its operational base in the country, according to reports in the media.

Yesterday, a decision was reached between the CBN and the NCC to intervene in the issue by summoning the parties to a fresh meeting.

The decision was reached at a meeting Thursday afternoon in Abuja between the NCC Executive Vice Chairman Prof. Umar Danbatta and the CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele and his team.

The two federal government agencies have agreed to invite Etisalat management and the banks to a fresh meeting today (Friday) to find amicable resolution, a statement made available to Daily Trust said.

The meeting between NCC and CBN which held at the Central Bank headquarters was convened by the financial regulator at the instance of NCC, to further deliberate on how best to stave off the attempt by the banks to take over Etisalat, the statement by NCC’s Director of Public Affairs Tony Ojobo said.

Daily Trust reported exclusively on Wednesday that the NCC and CBN were taking some steps to intervene in the loan issue.

Earlier in the week, NCC was said to have reached out to the CBN to inform it of the negative impact the takeover of Etisalat will have on the telecom industry.

NCC was worried about the fate of the over 20 million Etisalat subscribers and the wrong signals this may send to potential investors in the telecom industry.