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New Generation Telecommunications Consortium, winners of the bid for the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its subsidiary, MTEL, has given the assurance that it would pay the $750 million (about N112.5billion) bid security on or before the expiration of the deadline on Wednesday.

The consortium was issued a demand letter last week by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), to formally inform it of its emergence as the preferred bidder during the bid exercise held last February 16 in Abuja.

The letter, signed by Bolanle Onagoruwa, the director general of the Bureau, indicated that the consortium has 10 calendar days from the date the letter was issued to pay up, in accordance with the provisions of the Requests for Proposal (RFP) issued to all bidders at the inception of the process.

The payment of the bid security is a pre-condition for the issuance of the formal offer letter for the consortium to go ahead to complete the process to acquire the national carrier and its subsidiary.

Chukwuma Nwokoh, BPE spokesman, had, in a statement early last month, conveying the presidential approval to bring the transaction to a close, indicated that, “The balance of the bid amount of $1, 750 million should be paid within 60 days from the date of the issue of an offer letter.”

But, amid heightened anxiety over renewed attempt to end the delay in NITEL sale, which has suffered several failures since 2001, an official of the consortium said over the weekend that initial payment would be made before Thursday, despite the challenges they are facing.

“We are leaving no stone unturned to meet the 10 days deadline set by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), despite the long time it took the Federal Government to approve the transaction, and in spite of the recent happenings in the global financial market, which have exposed us to a lot of considerable pressure,” Usman Gumi, chief executive of the consortium, said on phone from Abuja.

Long negotiation

Kenneth Ugbechie, the executive secretary, Africa Telecom Development Initiative (ATDI), said yesterday that the expectation of the average Nigerian is for New Generation Consortium to make good its promise to meet the payment deadline.

“The transaction has dragged on for far too long, to the point that it has become an embarrassment to everyone, including the government itself.

“What most people are asking is for government to ensure that the old NITEL workers are paid off, so that the new owners can start on a clean slate; so that tomorrow, nobody can carry placards to the gates of the new owners protesting their unpaid benefits,” Mr. Ugbechie said.