By ZOGBOBIA NATHANIEL

EARLY this month, tales shot up in the media about the regulator of the telecommunications sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, alleging corruption in the sales of frequency. Pursuing the angle of corruption further, the tale bearers told of a waiver given by President Goodluck Jonathan to an organization where the man at the head of the regulatory commission, Dr Eugene Juwah once had interest, but not failing to add however, that the President had no powers to give such waivers as the money which should have been paid into the Federation account could only be approved for withdrawal by the National Assembly.

The regulator, unable to persuade the tale bearers to reflect its point of view, had to publish  advertorials in several dailies, explaining point by point the various steps that went into awarding the contentious frequency band. When the anarchy expected to befall the regulator did not happen the real tale-teller unmasked himself in several newspapers and some online publications.

What is very discernible in the interview and in the several publications is the attitude of an individual player on the prowl, disdaining the ability of others and the institution and arrogating every speck of achievement of an organization to his own self, who is very self-righteous and clothed away in white, far from the mire of others reeking with maggots.

This individual knows the Nigerian story and the kind of insalubrious tale that would fascinate the people. Sampler: Efforts by the federal government to rein in the activities of the Boko Haram sect and curtail other crimes across the country have been thwarted because the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has sold the frequency spectrum belonging to the Nigeria Police Force to a private company, Open Skys Ltd…..

Getting tangled in some very technical issues which it least understood but fueled by fraudulent submissions from the tale teller, the media alleged NCC was under-valuing the band and giving it out cheaply because the regulator failed to do an auction which would have attracted higher prices.

Finally responding in advertorials, the regulator explained that there was no cast-iron method of carrying out frequency sales, explaining that several methods are available — First Come First Served, Auction, Beauty Contest/Comparative, Administrative/Fixed Price, or a combination of two or some of the above.

In one of the tale teller’s concoctions concerning the ITU, he said it is unfortunate that  he was being persecuted for bringing benefits to Nigeria — adding he was able to deliver results for Nigeria which has not been matched by anyone in the 145-year history of the ITU.

He further said that his interventions have resulted in Nigeria getting spectrum that should generate billions of dollars in revenue (part of which is now being sold at ridiculous prices). He capped it by saying he worked to ensure that Nigerians were elected to ITU positions that we merit as a country.

This is the hubris of a tale teller who is ready to pull everybody down, including institutions only if his name can be glorified. Even if he were superhuman he should give little credit to the institution that sends him out and the individuals that make up his team.

Pray, what is the connection between the ITU and the Ministry of Communication Technology because this writer is knowledgeable enough to know that the ITU recognizes ministries and not regulators and that in fact countries are represented by teams which include and headed by the Communication Ministry, government agencies, and in the Nigerian situation, the NCC, NBC, National Maritime Authority, among others and security agencies? What is the contribution of these other organizations?

An occurence will help shape the portrait of this individual in question, who unilaterally reopened operators illegally using frequencies not allocated to them, and justifying it by saying that NCC took no decision to shut down any company, saying it is the case of a junior staff of the commission going on rampage, shutting down companies without recourse to the provision of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 and License Conditions, as well as Section 36 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Again this character had to step in to save the Commission and Country some embarrassment!

In response to another question about being on the side of mobile operators when they were sanctioned for poor quality of service, this character said he opposed the sanctions against the operators paying a penalty of N1.17bn, because he believed that the way and manner the fines were applied was not in conformity with the QoS Regulations.

This character, the tale teller, doesn’t seem to have any idea what it takes to work in a system where he is not in charge. Even among friends there is seniority, among lawmakers voted into office the same day there is seniority, hence there is the Senate President and the House Speaker, as examples.

In pursuit of ambition, every chief executive has been the foe of this tale teller, but it is time he realized that he still needs more education in democratic processes and collective responsibility. Trying to sell himself as a latter-day telecoms messiah  won’t wash either, because the real heroes of the country’s telecommunications industry are Nigerian media practitioners who virtually wrote the industry into existence and maintained faith in the system when most people didn’t.

They are the real curators of the country’s telecommunications sector, not any tale teller working hard to pull down his own house in a myopic bid to attain heights for which he is just not equipped.

Nathaniel writes from Lagos.