By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
…absolves Minister of involvement in office space allocation process
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), insisted on Friday that the decision to withdraw the offer of office space at it’s Communications and Digital Economy Complex located at Mbora District, Abuja from the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) was necessitated purely by exigencies.
In a statement by its Director of Public Affairs, Dr. Henry Nkemadu, the NCC, again, clarified that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, was never involved in the process of offer of office allocation to NiDCOM, contrary to what the public was being made to believe.
The Commission reiterated this position in a previous press statement signed in which it made further clarifications to the members of public and other stakeholders on the situation.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, was never involved in the offer to the office space, nor in the withdrawal of the offer for same office space. The Minister should not, therefore, be brought into the issue,” Nkemadu said.
According to him, the decision to withdraw the offer of office space from NiDCOM was purely of the NCC, the custodian of the office complex.
“It should, however, be made abundantly clear that the withdrawal of the offer of the office space, which was unconditionally given, in the first instance, to NiDCOM, was informed by exigencies and change in priorities within the NCC, which led to the taking back of the office space earlier allocated with intention of finding a suitable replacement for NiDCOM,” he said.
“The Commission, therefore, reiterates its confidence in the leadership, person and office of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami,” he added.
Last week, the NCC reacted to video making the rounds on social media alleging that NiDCOM staff were thrown out of the building owned by the telecoms regulatory body in Abuja.
Explaining what really transpired with regard to the incident leading to the evacuation of the Diaspora Commission from the NCC building, Nkemadu recalled that following the completion of the NCC building at Mbora, Abuja designated as NCC Annex and the acute shortage of accommodation space for the staff of the Commission in the NCC Head Office at Maitama, Abuja, the Board of the Commission directed the decongestion of the Head Office Building.
It further explained: “Some of the departments of the NCC had started moving to the new Office Complex of Five (5) Floors when discussions were held between the NCC and the Diaspora Commission to enable the Diaspora Commission also to utilise any free offices within the Complex.
“The fifth floor allocated to NDC had to be used to accommodate other departments from the NCC Headquarters to ease the congestion. NCC’s offer to house the NDC was predicated on the long-held position of the NCC that agencies of government will achieve more through strategic collaboration, partnership, synergy and sharing to the extent allowed by relevant laws.
“During this period, the NCC secured approval for the commissioning of the Office Complex by the President, His Excellency Muhammadu Buhari and the launching of four important projects of the NCC and the renamed Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy (FMC&DE):
“The projects include the launching and unveiling of the Nigerian National Broadband Plan 2020-2025; the commissioning of the Communications and Digital Economy Complex; the launching of the Emergency Communications Centre and Toll-Free number 112; and flag-off of the Digital Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training.
“These important projects were a culmination of extensive collaboration between NCC and the other parastatals of the FMC&DE and fittingly, the Complex was renamed the COMMUNICATIONS AND DIGITAL ECONOMY COMPLEX in tandem with the new drive of the Federal Government towards a digital economy.
“The NCC has not withdrawn the offer but had hiccups arising from the preparation for the visit of President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the Communications and Digital Economy Complex and launch of other projects relating to the mandate of government.
“The Board and Management of the NCC took a decision to ensure that every activity in the building was in line with the Federal Government’s digital agenda.
“Incidentally, after the offer of the office spaces to the NDC, the Director General, Mrs. Abike Dabiri-Erewa had not visited the Complex to take possession of any of the offices and also the Commission had not started using any of these spaces as offices.
“As is usual in ensuring security and accountability before, during and after presidential visits, the building had to be cleared to allow for only known and identifiable persons to have access within the Complex. Therefore, the Honourable Minister of the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, could not have sent armed men to drive the staff of the Diaspora Commission out of the Communications and Digital Economy Complex.
“At this time, only NCC staff were accredited to have access within this premises, as required by the security officials. All the properties belonging to the Diaspora Commission are safely warehoused in some of the offices in the Complex.
“This is contrary to the position of the Director General of NDC that the removal of her Commission from the building was punitive. This is not the correct position and we agree with her that there are always challenges in every human activity but the unforeseen challenges that arose in this case are not different but require understanding of all concerned.”