BREAKING NEWS, Business
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THE sale of the Nigeria Telecommunications Company, NITEL, by the government of Goodluck Jonathan $252m is to be probed. The company was bought by the NATCOM consortium last year December.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday, August 18, ordered the investigation during a briefing by Tunji Olaopa, permanent secretary and other officials of the ministry of Communications at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
Olaopa told reporters after the meeting that although Buhari was not opposed to the sale of the national telecommunications carrier, he would want to be sure that the country was not short-changed in the deal.
The permanent secretary said the president had, thus directed that the details of the transaction should be forwarded to his office in a memo.
Olaopa said: “The president is concerned by the quality of service of telecom operators. The president is very concerned about the whole issue of privatisation that is hindering the investments in ICT infrastructure and that he will personally champion this. The President talked about the potentials of the ICT sector in generating employment.
“The President is concerned about the liquidation of the NITEL. He is not opposed to its privatisation 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 shortchanged or not.”
He added that President Buhari also directed the ministry to bring forward for his consideration and approval, all pending proposals for the development of the IT sector, which required the approval of the Federal Executive Council.
Corroborating Olaopa’s statement, Garba Shehu, senior special assistant to the president on Media and Publicity, in a press statement quoted the president as saying that he was concerned about “the continuing protests of former NITEL employees and other Nigerians over the manner in which assets of the company were being sold.”
The ministry in its presentation to the president had argued that the IT sector, which currently accounts for 10 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, could grow to 20 percent if some of its proposals were approved and implemented.
— Aug 19, 2015 @ 13:15 GMT
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