MTEL Contractors Protest N500m Debt

Vice President Namadi Sambo

 

A group of contractors of the mobile subsidiary of the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd, M-tel, called the Mtel Creditors Group,  is set to embark on a protest  to compel the Federal Government to pay debts totalling N500million being owed the group.

Coordinator of the group, Mtel Creditors Group, Sebagen Henry Noboh disclosed that the group will storm the Headquarters of the Bureau of Public Enterprise BPE (BPE) to protest the non- payment of the debt, which he said had been unpaid since 2005/2006.

He said the protest had become necessary since all attempts to get the government to pay up  failed.
Noboh lamented that the Group executed various jobs for the mobile arm of NITEL without being paid for years. He said that the Group decided on the protest option, when all other attempts to get the government to pay the debt failed.

The Group stressed that its members were no moneybags but ordinary Nigerians trying to escape from the tough grip of the Olympus labour market.

He said that the tough economic terrain had led to the death of some of the members, while others now live below the poverty line.

Noboh, painted a scenario of woe. He disclosed that ‘’It is needless to say that some of us have suffered permanent incapacitation as a result of auto accidents in the course of shuttling between Abuja and our various locations in pursuit of payment.

“Many others have also been hospitalised as a result of illnesses induced by anxiety and frustration arising from the non-payment for contracts they had long executed, while others have been led to an untimely grave.

“A good number of us that obtained loan facilities to execute contracts have lost our valuable assets to the various banks, while a sizeable number of us have had our children thrown out of school. Meanwhile, the government has told us that we would not be paid until M-tel is privatised, a controversial exercise which is a decade old!’’

He stressed that certain media reports on an alleged rift between two top officials in the presidency has further eroded the faith of the Group that NITEL will ever be sold.

Recall that recently the Group initiated the process of winding up the entity for failing to pay its debts.
The M-tel Contractors Group had through its legal counsel, Mr Sulaiman Usman, served a demand on M-tel requiring her to pay an aggregate in excess of N500 million, representing the amount owed the members of the group. The case is due for hearing on the 3rd of October.

According to the Companies and Allied Matters Act section 408(d), “A company may be wound up by the court if the company is unable to pay its debts.”