Senate Spits Fire, Flays NTA-startimes' 'unfruitful' Partnership Of 12 Years
chuks oti
Aug 25, 2020
The Senate, yesterday, came down hard on the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) for entering into a business partnership that "has yielded no revenue for Nigeria since 2008."
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The upper legislative chamber's position was informed by revelation that the agreement with the Chinese media firm, Beijing Star Group, popularly known as NTA-Star TV Network, had not generated profit but losses since it came into effect 12 years ago.
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It wondered why the situation subsisted amid the Federal Government's N10 billion funding of the parastatal.
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Vexed by the development, the Red Chamber has vowed to investigate the deal and past directors- general of the broadcast outfit.
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The information came to the fore at the ongoing stakeholder' interactive session on the 2021-223 Medium Term Expenditure Framework And Financial Strategy Paper (MTEF/FSP) being organised by the Senate Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning.
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The panel, had last week, uncovered an alleged multi-billion naira fraud in the joint venture, when it noticed that the deal was not captured in the documents submitted by NTA's Director-General Yakubu Mohammed.
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The observation prompted the decision for the chief executive to return yesterday with relevant papers containing financials and liabilities of the venture.
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But curiously, Mohammed returned with nothing, pleading instead for more time.
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At this point, Senator Gabriel Suswam interjected, asking the DG to tender whatever he had for a decision on those he could not provide.
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On further enquiries, Mohammed stated that the partnership had not benefited the country in the over a decade that it was struck.
"As a matter of fact, when I came on board in 2016, that was one of the first questions I asked. I wanted to know what accrued to NTA from the joint venture, and I was told that it had not declared any revenue. They have been declaring losses every year," he submitted.
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Managing Director of NTA TV Enterprises, Maxwell Loko, said he was not informed to come with documents relating to the deal.
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Responding, a furious committee chair, Senator Adeola Olamilekan, stated: "It shows the NTA is here to confuse us. We will give you tomorrow (today) to come again with the relevant documents - agreement Nigeria or NTA signed with Startimes and the management account. Bring them here tomorrow (today) by 11 o'clock."
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In his contribution, Senator Ayo Patrick Akinyerule accused the television station of hiding something, hence its retention of the "bad business."
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Also speaking, Senator Danladi Sankara noted: "Star times is just running business in Nigeria illegally."
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He added: "Startimes is 11 years, and up till now, they are not registered with NBC.
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"It means they are relying on NTA, using its licence. This is improper."
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