Business
… Reject Motion On NITEL Privatisation
A motion on the privatisation of the Nigerian Telecommunication Limited (NITEL) and Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTEL) was rejected by the House of Representatives in Abuja on Wednesday.
The motion, which was sponsored by Mr. Chris Azubogu, was widely debated by the House but not adopted when put to vote by the Deputy Speaker, Mr. Emeka Ihedioha, The Tide source reported.
Azubogu, who led the debate on the merit of the motion, said the Federal Government made efforts to liberalise the telecommunication industry in 2001.
The legislator said the first attempt to privatise the companies in 2002 when International Investors London offered $1.137bn to acquire NITEL.
He said the company defaulted in paying the bid price and “thereafter lost the opportunity.”
Azubogu, who said that many attempts were made to sell NITEL/MTEL, added that “it is becoming unrealistic to expect a fair market value for the full price of NITEL/MTEL.”
He said the difficulty to attract a fair price was because “investment conditions in Nigeria and around the world have yet to improve since the capital and financial market crisis of 2008/2009 to 2010.”
Azubogu urged the House to facilitate the proposed privatisation of NITEL by supporting the motion.
“If we unbundle NITEL and sell it, we will realise more money, it is our money, our resource,” he said.
He urged the House to mandate its committee on Communications to investigate the mode of unbundling NITEL/MTEL and make recommendations to the House within four weeks.
Arua Arunsi; Adams Jagaba; and Ndudi Elumelu, spoke in favour of the motion.
They said the sale of NITEL/MTEL would be beneficial to Nigerians.
However, Patrick Asadu; Kamil Akinlabi; Haruna Kigbu; and Ayo Omidran, spoke against the motion.
They argued that NITEL should not be privatised considering that the organisation had strong connection with the country.
Akinlabi said, “Several attempts to sell NITEL means the spirit of Nigerians is against it.”