NBC says no fraud in transaction with Pinnacles Communications

The Director General of the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC), Mallam Modibo Kawu, has said there is nothing fraudulent in the transaction between the commission and one of the licensed signal distributors, Pinnacles Communications.

He alleged that there were a lot of inaccuracies in the statement issued by the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), adding that NBC is only handling the transition from analogue to digital television and has nothing to do with telephony.

The ICPC had last week announced that it was probing the NBC over alleged misapplication of N2.5 billion meant for digital switchover.

Kawu told journalists yesterday in Abuja that Pinnacles was licensed as the second national signal distributor in 2014, adding the company came in through a competitive open bidding process which was conducted long before he became the DG of NBC.

He pointed out that Pinnacles paid N680 million licence fee to the commission, but along the line, the firm went into dispute with the NBC over the content of their licence.

According to him, the firm took NBC to court over the dispute. ” When I became DG, getting Pinnacle out of court became a central issue, they agreed to go out of court and as part of packages of resolution we reached to get them out of court, they were appointed the signal distributor for switch over in Abuja and they had a very narrow window.

“Pinnacles installed some of the best broadcast equipment in the world, the quality was up to standard for our processes, they were given assignment to procure and install equipment for Kaduna switch over, they have not been off air for once since December 2016.”

Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has approved 25 new television licences.