NITEL for Sale

Another round of bidding will soon begin for the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) following the Federal Government's decision to resell the public utility.

The sale of NITEL to the behemoth Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) was revoked last month, generating ripples in the telecom industry. Transcorp had acquired 51 per cent of NITEL in 2006 for $500million.

A statement issued in Abuja said the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to resell NITEL.

The new core investor would acquire 51 per cent equity in NITEL.

Twenty-two per cent of the equity would be contributed by the government and Transcorp, 29 per cent.

This would leave the government with 27 per cent and Transcorp, 22 per cent.

I hope they get it right this time.

BPE should open its eyes wide and verify all claims by prospective investors to avoid mistakes of the past when NITEL was sold to a non-exisiting foreign firm.