Business
Union Seeks Solution To NITEL’s Problems
The Senior Staff Association of Communications, Transport and Corporations (SSACTAC), last Thursday urged the Federal Government to find a lasting solution to the problems of the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd. (NITEL).
The SSACTAC President, Mr Adetunji Adesunkanmi, made the appeal in an interview with The Tide source in Lagos.
He was reacting to the House of Representative’s rejection of a motion which sought to privatise NITEL.
The House of Representatives on Wednesday rejected the motion at its plenary session.
The motion had desired the House to mandate its committee on communications to recommend how the former telecommunications giant would be unbundled.
Adesunkanmi urged the government to work out appropriate ways to revitalise the national carrier.
“ Government should seek proper information on what to do with our communications company because there is no country without a national carrier,’’ he said.
The unionist blamed the poor condition of NITEL on policy failure and inconsistency.
He said that the union would ensure the revival of the company, if given the opportunity and made to sign a two years’ performance bond.
He advised the government to fight corruption and embezzlement in public enterprises.
The Federal Government has been making unsuccessful efforts in the past 10 years to sell NITEL and its subsidiary MTEL.
In 2002, Investors International Ltd. of London offered 1.137 billion dollars to acquire the company but later defaulted.
The Bureau of Public Enterprise later engaged PENTASCOPE of the Netherlands to manage the company, but this did not succeed.
In 2006, some Nigerian investors, under the name Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (Transcorp), acquired 51 per cent of NITEL/MTEL for 500 million dollars, but the deal was later cancelled.
An attempt by the Telecommunications Consortiums of China to have a 75 per cent stake in the company for 2.5 billion dollars also failed.
In 2011, the Omen International failed to meet up its 105 million dollars bid security payment which made its deal to be cancelled.
It was gathered that these failures had to do with the poor condition of the company and its huge debt burden.