$1.2b loan:Banks shareholders urge Etisalat to pay

     Some shareholder group in the capital market has urged etisalat Nigeria to settle the $1.2b dept it owed 13 commercial band to avoid its takeover.

      The cross section of the shareholder group stated this in an interview with the news agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.

     They insisted that the company must settle the dept for the banks to meet up with their dividend obligations.

      National coordinator, progressive shareholders association of Nigeria, Mr Boniface okezie,advised Etisalat to settle the dept owned the commercial banks to avoid a legal action.

      He said the effected banks should approach the court for receivership if the telco failed to settle the dept, adding that the banks had obligations to their shareholders in terms of divided payment at the end of the financial year.

      Also, the chairman of Nigeria professional shareholders association, Mr Godwin Anono,said the firm should settle the dept and desist from making unnecessary noice about the whole thing.

       He said the transaction was in line with customer-bank relationship, nothing that the terms and conditions must be obeyed.

        Anono said further that the shareholders were I'm support of the banks to acquire the firm if it failed to settle the loan.

       "This is like any other transaction, it's not government business and I stand on existing protocol that the banks should acquire the company", he said

       In his view,Mr Shewa wusu,head research, SCM capital ltd.,said the issue of loan between Etisalat and the consortium of bank was a customer-bank relationship which ought to be settled with terms agreeable between the both parties.