FROM JULIANA TAIWO-OBALONYE, ABUJA
The National Council on Privatisation (NCP), presided over by Vice President Namadi Sambo, yesterday formally ratified the sale of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited and its subsidiary, Mobile Telecommunications Limited, to NATCOM Consortium.
Briefing State House correspondents at the end of the meeting, Atedo Peterside, alongside Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Musa Sada, and the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Benjamin Dikki, said with the ratification, documentation and payments will now follow.
He said, “at the end of the privatisation exercise, there was one bidder although two were pre-qualified initially while only one attained the passmark. That was NATCOM Consortium, which offered $252 million.
“The NCP was approving the transaction. It has confirmed the process. We now have a preferred bidder ratified by the NCP. Usually, what follow now are documentation and payment.”
Also speaking, Sada said the council also reports on the monitoring and evaluation of the entities so far privatised, adding it was necessary to ensure that the objectives of privatisation are met by the new owners.
He expressed satisfaction with the performance of the new owners, saying most of them evaluated were not doing badly.
Sada added, however, that the firms needed to be supported through favourable government policies, among others.
Dikki on his part said the council did the performance evaluation of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals and noted that the firm had implemented all the covenants.
He said the council had resolved that the firm should be released from the five-year monitoring period, adding that
Source : SunOnline
