Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari reveals the MTN mobile service operator fueled the insurgency of Boko Haram in northeastern part of the country by failing in disconnecting unregistered users that accounted to be in millions.
MTN is a South Africa-based mobile phone operator.
The government had ordered disconnection of unregistered SIMs by middle of last year citing security grounds and MTN had missed the deadline.
The Nigerian communications regulator had charged for a penalty of $3.9 billion to the operator later in October 2015 and since then the company has paid out fine of just $250 million.
Buhari said the concern was on security and not the fine imposed as the unregistered SIMs is being used by militant groups. This is the reason the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had asked the operators including MTN and Glo to disconnect the unregistered connections.
Buhari added, “Unfortunately MTN was very slow and contributed to the casualties. And that was why the NCC looked at its regulations and imposed that fine on them.”
Since the uprise of Boko Haram in 2009 more than 17,000 people have been killed and at least 2.6 million have been displaced.
Meanwhile, Nigeria has also asked South Africa for closer defence ties that include training of forces to fight against Boko Haram.
South African President Zuma visited Nigerian capital Tuesday morning which is said to be an attempt to mend fences between the two countries.
