Head, Public Communications, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe
One of the consortia seeking to acquire the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited and its mobile subsidiary, the Nigerian Mobile Telecommunications, has dropped out of the competition, having failed in the technical evaluation process.
The Head of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, confirmed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday.
With one of the consortia out of the competition, only one company will show up at the financial bid opening for the company s scheduled to take place on Wednesday (today) in Abuja.
The BPE had set up a committee with members drawn from different government agencies and ministries to screen the technical proposals submitted by bidders for the beleaguered telecommunications company.
The task of the committee is to screen the technical proposals of the two groups that want to acquire NITEL and M-Tel under the guided liquidation programme approved by the National Council on Privatisation chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo.
Two consortia, Messrs NETTAG Consortium and NATCOM Consortium, had been earlier prequalified for the exercise and Anichebe confirmed that they beat the Friday deadline for the submission of financial and technical bids.
Anichebe could not confirm which of the two companies could not scale the technical evaluation.
He, however, said the financial bid opening would go on, adding that the sole bidder was expected to at least match the reserve price, below which a deal would not be possible.
The NCP had on February 27, 2013 approved the sale of NITEL/M-TEL through guided liquidation after several failed attempts in the past to privatise the enterprises.
Under the guided liquidation strategy, NITEL and M-TEL are to be sold as a single lot to a qualified bidder by a liquidator under the guidance of the BPE.
Consequently, a liquidator, Otunba Olutola Senbore, was appointed for the transaction.
The appointment was confirmed by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on March 14, 2014 and he commenced the process on March 25, 2014 and appointed professionals to work with him as required by the law.
In the last 13 years, there had been several attempts to sell the First National Operator.
Most of the attempts were reportedly marred by insincerity of purpose and manipulation of the process by government officials and private sector operators.
The first attempt was in 2001 when Investors International of London Limited emerged the preferred bidder for NITEL.
IILL had bid $1.317bn to acquire 51 per cent stake in NITEL and M-Tel on November 28, 2001 but could not make the payment to close the deal.
The Federal Government then proceeded to appoint Pentascope International of Netherlands as management contractors for NITEL. Without any pedigree, the company seemed to have been incorporated for the purpose of taking NITEL to the cleaners.
The Head of Public Communication, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, confirmed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent in Abuja on Tuesday.
With one of the consortia out of the competition, only one company will show up at the financial bid opening for the company s scheduled to take place on Wednesday (today) in Abuja.
The BPE had set up a committee with members drawn from different government agencies and ministries to screen the technical proposals submitted by bidders for the beleaguered telecommunications company.
The task of the committee is to screen the technical proposals of the two groups that want to acquire NITEL and M-Tel under the guided liquidation programme approved by the National Council on Privatisation chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo.
Two consortia, Messrs NETTAG Consortium and NATCOM Consortium, had been earlier prequalified for the exercise and Anichebe confirmed that they beat the Friday deadline for the submission of financial and technical bids.
Anichebe could not confirm which of the two companies could not scale the technical evaluation.
He, however, said the financial bid opening would go on, adding that the sole bidder was expected to at least match the reserve price, below which a deal would not be possible.
The NCP had on February 27, 2013 approved the sale of NITEL/M-TEL through guided liquidation after several failed attempts in the past to privatise the enterprises.
Under the guided liquidation strategy, NITEL and M-TEL are to be sold as a single lot to a qualified bidder by a liquidator under the guidance of the BPE.
Consequently, a liquidator, Otunba Olutola Senbore, was appointed for the transaction.
The appointment was confirmed by a Federal High Court sitting in Abuja on March 14, 2014 and he commenced the process on March 25, 2014 and appointed professionals to work with him as required by the law.
In the last 13 years, there had been several attempts to sell the First National Operator.
Most of the attempts were reportedly marred by insincerity of purpose and manipulation of the process by government officials and private sector operators.
The first attempt was in 2001 when Investors International of London Limited emerged the preferred bidder for NITEL.
IILL had bid $1.317bn to acquire 51 per cent stake in NITEL and M-Tel on November 28, 2001 but could not make the payment to close the deal.
The Federal Government then proceeded to appoint Pentascope International of Netherlands as management contractors for NITEL. Without any pedigree, the company seemed to have been incorporated for the purpose of taking NITEL to the cleaners.
The Punch
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