Nigeria Senate against NITEL liquidation

NITEL Headquarters

The Nigerian Senate on Thursday opposed the Federal Government’s planned liquidation of the Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and opted for concession. The Chairman, Senate Committee on Privatisation, Sen. Gbenga Obadara (ACN-Ogun), stated this at an interactive session with newsmen in Abuja.

Obadara said the information to liquidate NITEL was conveyed to the senate at the committee’s meeting with the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) and the National Council on Privatisation (NCP). ``We met with BPE and NCP on the way forward for NITEL and MTEL to obtain the situation report of the proposed privatisation of the two companies. We were told that the exercise would go through guided liquidation.’’

The chairman said the BPE explained to the committee that NITEL owed the Federal Government and other people about N351 billion.We were later told that NITEL owed Federal Government N179 billion and with facts available, we know that federal government and government agencies owe NITEL up to N250 billion.’’

The chairman, who said that the committee was told that NITEL owed banks about N64 billion, added that the debt could still be negotiated. He, however, explained that BPE and NCP were unable to furnish the committee with information about the people or organisations who owed NITEL. ``They cannot give us the fact of who owes NITEL to this present time. The people that owe NITEL we don’t know.’’

He explained that one of the senate’s objections to the sale of NITEL was because neither BPE nor NCP could ascertain the true value of the company. ``We asked the question what is the worth of NITEL today, they could not tell us.  How do you then sell what you don’t know the worth? As people representing Nigerians from various senatorial districts, we thought it fit not to allow NITEL to be sold without having empirical facts to collaborate what they were telling us.’’

He described NITEL as “a major government organisation badly run by past administrations”. No nation will sell its major asset and so in the case of NITEL, we should not throw away the baby with the bath water. If you look at international best practice today, it is Public Private Partnership (PPP) or concession that is used.’’

According to him, if NITEL is given a life-line through concessionaires or even a PPP arrangement, with good conditions including tax rebates, the organisation will benefit Nigerians. `` Through this method, more people will be employed throughout the country and the country’s GDP will equally increase. At the end of the tenure of the concessionaire, the country will have a good telecommunications company to run and be able to go to the stock exchange for Nigerians to buy into the company.'' (NAN)