Nigerian president, Muhammadu Buhari, has ordered probes into the sale of NITEL and MTEL. While stating that he is not against the sale of the companies, he expressed about the process.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration sold the telecom company for $252m to NATCOM consortium in December 2014. Speaking at the State House in Abuja, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication and Technology, Dr. Tunji Olaopa said that the president has directed him to raise a memo on the whole transaction to ascertain if there were any underhand dealings.
He also stated that the president was equally concerned on the quality of service rendered by the telecom operators in Nigeria.
“The President was concerned about the liquidation of NITEL. He is not opposed to its privatization but he wants to know and he want us to bring a memo on how he whole transaction was undertaken so that he would know whether Nigeria was shortchanged.
“The President was concerned by the quality of service of telecom operators. The President is very concerned about the whole issue privatization 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”, Olaopa said.
