The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday told the Senate that lack of patronage for its auctioned frequencies was responsible for its failure to meet this year’s revenue target.
The commission’s Director of Financial Services, Yakubu Gontor, said this when he appeared before the Joint Senate Committee perusing the 2024-2026 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) submitted to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Finance.
Gontor said as at September, the commission had earned N199.8 billion out of its N387.4 billion revenue projection for 2023.
The financial director explained that two frequencies, 600 megahertz (MHz) and 35 megahertz (MHz) were made available for auction but there was no patronage for any of them.
He said the development significantly affected the revenue generation drive of the commission this year.
Gontor said: “Our revenue projection from spectrum fee was N387.4 billion. But we ended up earning N199.8 billion as at September 2023, which is a significant difference from the projected revenue.
“We hope to earn more between now and in December. But we may not be able to meet the budgetary projection.
“This is because frequencies are usually sold through auctions and there are some frequencies that were earmarked for auction during the year.
“However, the auction did not attract the expected patronage. Those frequencies had been reserved for subsequent auctions”.
Also, the Senate Joint Committee yesterday threatened to introduce a Bill to fully privatise the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST) for optimal performance.
The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance who also chaired the MTEF-FSP joint panel, Sani Musa, stated this when the Postmaster General of the Federation, Tola Odeyemi, appeared before the joint panel to defend her agency’s budget proposal for next year.
Odeyemi apparently angered the senators when she said her agency projected N18 billion as personnel cost for its 16,000 workers across the country.
Musa wondered why NIPOST, whose presence could hardly be felt anywhere in the country, could increase its personnel cost from N13 billion in 2023 to N18 billion for 2024.
The explanation of the Postmaster General that the increment was a result of the recent hike in personnel cost by the Federal Government to its workers did not assuage the mood of the panel chairman.
A member of the joint panel, Ireti Kingibe, attempted to defend the continued existence of NIPOST as a partially funded agency of the Federal Government, claiming that every nation deserves their own vibrant postal agency.
Another member of the panel, Osita Izunaso, disagreed with Kingibe’s submission.
Ruling on the matter, Musa asked the NIPOST boss to forward to the committee details of her business plan to reposition the agency into a vibrant revenue-generating agency.
He said: “NIPOST should have been fully privatised before now because nobody is feeling its impact anywhere in the country.
“We are ready to recommend to the Senate in plenary full privatisation of the NIPOST except the Postmaster General convinces us otherwise.
“The CEO of NIPOST should forward to the secretariat of our committee details of her business model on how the agency would be generating adequate revenues for the country through creative ideas.
“Failure to do this would leave the Senate with no other option than to recommend the full privatisation of NIPOST”.
