NCC exonerates Minister from eviction of NIDCOM from NCC Building

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has clarified that Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications And Digital Economy, was never involved in the process of offer of office allocation to the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) at the NCC’s Communications and Digital Economy Complex located at Mbora District, Abuja.

The commission reiterated this position in a press statement signed by its Henry Nkemadu, director, Public Affairs, 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,” he said.

According to Nkemadu, 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 Pantami.

The Chairman, NIDCOM, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, had in a television programme, disclosed that over 40 office equipment, workstations and files belonging to NIDCOM staff were still locked up at the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) building, four months after the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr. Isa Pantami allegedly ordered the eviction of the Diaspora commission.

Dabiri-Erewa stated, “The office we got, given to us by NCC, we were actually driven away by the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Mr Isa Pantami. Within two days, he drove us with guns.

“The place was given to us by NCC, we all help each other. The NCC said there is a place we can settle in and just as we settled in; I was in Ethiopia when I got a call. I came back from Ethiopia on a Thursday, this happened on Tuesday, by Friday, when I went to the office, there were guns, armed men had taken over the place, I thought it was a joke.”