House of Reps okays sale of defunct national carrier to NATCOM

The House approved the deal after adopting the report of the Committees on Telecommunications, Privatization and Commercialization which verified the processes that led to the liquidation of NITEL/Mtel and subsequent acquisition by the NATCOM Consortium.

The Committees were tasked by the plenary to investigate the transactions some months ago before submitting its findings on Thursday, March 11, 2016, following several public hearings.

The National Council on Privatization, following four unsuccessful attempts between 2001 and 2011, directed the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to privatize the companies through a guided liquidation process.

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The NATCOM Consortium was one of the 17 companies who submitted Expressions of Interest (EOI) when the bid was advertised in June 2014. The consortium later emerged as winner with a $252.25 million bid.

The House of Representatives decided to investigate the transaction after protests from certain quarters demanded that the deal be looked into.

The report of the Committee instituted to look into the deal, which the House adopted last week, stated that the BPE ensured due process and transparency in the course of the transaction.

The House also called on the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to meet “its obligations and commitments to the Bureau of Public Enterprises and core investor (NATCOM) in line with the presidential approval on licences and spectrum for the effective take-off of NITEL and MTEL”, according to a Nigerian CommunicationsWeek report.