Nigeria's president to decide on $5.2 bln fine for MTN -comms ministry

Reuters
President Muhammadu Buhari addresses members of the National Working Committee during the meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) party at the headquarters of the party in Abuja, Nigeria July 3, 2015. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's communications ministry said on Wednesday that it is up to President Muhammadu Buhari to decide "in which direction to go" with a $5.2 billion fine on mobile phone company MTN after it asked for leniency. "The (Communications) minister (Adebayo Shittu) said in Lagos that it will be up to the president to determine which direction to go since MTN asked for leniency," ministry spokesman Tajudeen Kareem said. MTN was fined by the Nigerian Communications Commission at the end of October for not disconnecting 5.2 million unregistered users from its network. (Reporting By Julia Payne; Editing by David Goodman)