Apprehension and confusion can best be used to describe the situation of things in the last one week when the management of Teleology Holdings Limited (THL) issued a terse statement that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has handed over the troubled 9mobile it apparently won to it.
Besides, checks at 9mobile head office on Banana Island, Lagos in the last one week did not in any way or manner suggest any form of change of management, guard or operational procedures within the period under review.
Efforts to raise discussions with some top officials of the current receiver management headed by Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Deputy Governor, Mr. Joseph Nnanna failed as nobody was willing to make any comment in that regard.
Calls made to top officials of NCC regarding the development were answered but nothing meaningful can be deduced from their comments which appeared to be slippery and self-protecting.
Nobody agreed that he or she has what it takes to comment on the development, but the new Director Public Affairs, Mr. Nnamdi Nwokike who was abroad attending international assignment noted that “Am out of the country and therefore cannot comment on the matter”.
Business Hilights recalls that exactly one week after we published a story on whether the telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is carrying out integrity test on bid winners for 9Mobile, THL endlessly, 🙁http://businesshilights.com.ng/9mobile-is-nccs-technical-evaluation-on-teleology-becoming-endless/), the bid winners issued a statement announcing that it has been allowed by NCC to assume ownership and management of 9mobile.
In the statement, THL claimed that it had constituted a new Board of Directors for the mobile phone company, following the successful completion of the tenure of the former Board appointed by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the banking industry regulator.
The constitution of the new Board marks the “definitive end” of the long process that has trailed the sale of 9mobile, the new owners say, while adding that the deal has also received the seal of approval of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator.
Mohammed Edewor, Non Executive Director of Teleology, announced that the new Chairman of the Board is Alhaji Nasiru Ado Bayero, who has accepted the appointment.
The new Board of Directors included as follows:
Nasiru Ado Bayero (Chairman)
Stephane Beuvelet (Acting Managing Director)
Asega Aliga (Non Executive Director)
Adrian Wood (Non Executive Director)
Mohammed Edewor (Non Executive Director)
Winston Ndubueze Udeh (Non Executive Director)
Abdulrahman Ado (Executive Director)
THL averred that “For us, the composition of the new Board of Directors is another significant milestone, and this follows the issuance of final approval of no objection by the Board of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to the effect that the technical and financial bids Teleology submitted for 9mobile met and satisfied all the regulatory requirements. This is indeed the dawn of a new era in the evolution of the 9mobile brand in the Nigerian market.”
In his brief remark, Chairman of the Board, Alhaji Bayero averred that “as we begin this new epochal phase, we wish to thank all the employees who built this viable business. Our debt of gratitude also goes to our subscribers even as we assure them to get ready for real best-in-class additional value for their relationship with the 9mobile brand. Without you, there could not have been a 9mobile business for us to invest in today. We will justify your confidence in our brand by making significant investments that will improve the value you get for using 9mobile.”
It would be recalled that CBN in collaboration with the NCC, had in July 2017 appointed a Board of Directors chaired by Dr. Joseph Nnanna, the Deputy Governor of the CBN, to oversee the affairs of the company pending the completion of regulatory due diligence of the bid documents submitted by Teleology and sixteen others for its acquisition that was managed by Barclays Africa.
