NCP Ratifies Sale of NITEL, MTEL

National Council on Privatisation (NCP) yesterday formally ratified the sales of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited and its subsidiary Mobile Telecommunications Limited to NATCOM Consortium.

The ratification was given at the council’s fourth meeting, presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Mr. Atedo Peterside, a member of the council; Musa Sada, minister of Mines and Steel Development; and Mr. Benjamin Dikki, director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, briefed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.

Peterside said with the ratification, documentation and payments now follow.

He said: “At the end of the privatisation exercise, there was one bidder. Two were pre-qualified initially but only one attained the passmark. That was NATCOM Consortium with $252million.

“The NCP has confirmed the process. We now have a preferred bidder ratified by the NCP.

“Usually, what follows now are documentation and payment.”

Sada said the council also reports on the monitoring and evaluation of the entities so far privatised.

He said the exercise was carried out to ensure that the objectives of privatisation are met by the new owners.

From the report, the minister said most of the companies evaluated were not doing badly.

He however said the council noted that the firms needed to be supported through favourable government policies among others.