The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, says the negotiation with the South African telecommunication company, MTN has not been concluded.
The Minister put forward this position when he appeared before the House of Representatives Committee on Communication.
The Committee is looking into issues around the 1.04 trillion Naira fine imposed on the telecoms company mtn for failing to deactivate unregistered SIM cards.
The Minister also defended the position of his office in taking over the case from the Ministry of Communication and the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC), saying the constitution empowers him to take such actions.
House of Representatives had questioned the legal basis for the review of the 1.04 trillion Naira fine imposed on MTN for failing to deactivate unregistered SIM cards.
After considering a motion on the matter, the House resolved to investigate the extent to which the company violated the provisions of the law and if the company should escape criminal liability for the alleged death of over 10,000 Nigerians.
They queried the role of the Attorney-General of the Federation for taking over the negotiations with MTN without including the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The fine has been reduced to 780 billion Naira.