Ayo Arise, chairman of the Nigerian Senate Committee on Privatization, said that the Nigerian Government should approve the US$2.5bn sale of the state-owned fixed line operator to New Generation Telecom.
Arise said, in a telephone call with Bloomberg: “I…
Ayo Arise, chairman of the Nigerian Senate Committee on Privatization, said that the Nigerian Government should approve the US$2.5bn sale of the state-owned fixed line operator to New Generation Telecom.
Arise said, in a telephone call with Bloomberg: “I don’t see why we can’t go ahead. The bidding process appeared to be quite transparent.”
New Generation a consortium made up of China Unicom, Minerva Group of Dubai and Nigeria’s GiCell Wireless, won the bidding for 75% of Nitel on in February However, Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan suspended the transaction in March and told a committee including senior ministers to conduct further due diligence on the bidders.
Jonathan ordered the review after China Unicom, China’s second-biggest mobile-phone carrier, denied any involvement in the winning group. The Chinese operator later said one of its units was interested in “providing technical and managerial support.”
The head of Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises, the agency that sells state-owned assets, was suspended in March by the government. It didn’t give a reason for the decision.
Chukwuma Nwokoh, a spokesman for the BPE, said last month that no action would be taken until Jonathan makes a ruling on the investigation he ordered.
Nitel’s sale to New Generation must be cancelled should the group of investors fail to pay US$2.5bn.
Arise said “There’s a whole lot of money buried in Nitel and it shouldn’t be sold for less than US$1bn.”
