President
Muhammadu Buhari has mandated the ministry of communication to provide details
of the recent privatisation of the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) and its
mobile arm, MTEL, to ascertain whether or not Nigeria was short-changed.
Speaking
to journalists Tuesday after briefing the president on the activities of the
ministry of communications, permanent secretary Tunji Olaopa said the president
requested that a memo detailing how the transaction was processed be submitted
directly to him.
He
said Mr. Buhari was concerned about the possibility of Nigeria not receiving a
fair value from the deal.
“The
president was also concerned about the liquidation of NITEL. He is not opposed
to its privatization but he wants to know… and he wants us to bring a memo on
how the whole transaction was undertaken so that he would know whether Nigeria
was short-changed,” he said.
Mr.
Olaopa said the president was very concerned about the whole issue of
privatization that is hindering investments in ICT and said “that he will
personally champion this”.
“The
president talked about the potentials of the ICT sector in generating
employment,” Mr. Olaopa said.
He
said Mr. Buhari was also concerned about the quality of service from telecom
operators in the country.
The
privatisation of the NITEL and MTEL was completed in December 2014 after the
financial bid was opened in October 2014 by the Goodluck Jonathan
administration.
A
consortium run by Skye Bank’s chairman, Tunde Ayeni, the founder of Sahara
Energy, Tonye Cole, and two other companies, received the nod from the Nigerian
government to take over the two companies for $242.3 million (about N42.4
billion).
Their
investment vehicle, NATCOM Telecommunications, emerged the sole bidder for the
Nigerian Telecommunications Limited, NITEL and Mtel.
NATCOM
has as members NATSPACE Telecommunication Investment Limited, PCCW Global
Limited, Prime Union Investment Limited, Olutoyi Estate Development &
Services Limited, Legal Resources Alliance & Co., Sahara Energy Resources
Limited, and LM Ericsson Nigeria Limited.
- Premium Times
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