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Desperate
to see the end to the controversial sale of the Nigerian
Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and its mobile subsidiary, MTel, the
Presidency has granted another extension to the deadline earlier
granted bid winner, New Generation Consortium, to make the initial bid
security payment for the national telecoms carrier.

Following
Presidency’s approval last October for the Bureau for Public
Enterprises (BPE) to take steps to conclude the privatization process,
New Generation was, on October 25, asked to pay the initial bid
security of $750 million (about N112.5billion) within ten calendar days
from the date of its receipt of a demand letter conveying its
acknowledgment as winner.

But,
following a request for 30 days extension to enable it mobilise funds
for the transaction, the National Council on Privatization (NCP) on
November 5 granted the consortium 20 days extension, which BPE
spokesman, Chukwuma Nwoko, said was to help the consortium “clarify all
compliance and due diligence issues and also to remit the funds into
BPE’s account.”

However,
contrary to high expectations that the payment would be done on or
before the deadline yesterday, NEXT gathered that the consortium was
granted another extension till December 23 to pay up.

Extension granted

The
director general, BPE, Bolanle Onagoruwa, said in a telephone interview
in Abuja that the extension was granted by the vice president and
chairman of the privatization council, Namadi Sabo, based on the
recommendation of the management technical committee of the NCP “so as
not to fall into any technical trap.”

“They
(New Generation Consortium) have an extension from the Presidency till
22nd of December, 2010. The issue is that the letter that they got was
dated 19th of November. But, we (BPE) immediately announced the
extension on the 5th of November based on a verbal approval from the
vice president as the chairman of the National Council on Privatization
(NCP). The formal approval did not come until the 19th of November, and
they collected the letter approving the extension on the 23rd of
November.

“Basically,
what they (New Generation Consortium) were saying was that their
bankers wanted a written confirmation, as they could not rely on verbal
directives, to continue the process. That is why they wanted the
extension to start counting from the 23rd of November, when they
actually received the letter.

“Everybody
is anxious to see the transaction come to an end, so that we can pay
NITEL staff who have been pressurising for their entitlements,” Mrs.
Onagoruwa said.

Too long a transaction

Executive
secretary, Africa Telecom Development Initiative (ATDI), Kenneth
Ugbechie, told NEXT that most Nigerians are anxious for the transaction
to be brought to a close as soon as possible.

“Everybody’s
expectation is that they (New Generation) take advantage of the
deadline and pay up. The transaction has dragged on for far too long,
to the point that it has become an embarrassment to everyone, including
the government itself,” Mr. Ugbechie said.

According
to him, the negligence NITEL has suffered over the years has inflicted
grievous injuries on the workers in a manner that has affected their
families, psyche, and personality, adding that apart from not getting
any other jobs since they lost the ones they had in NITEL, many of the
workers are entitled to some unsettled benefits.

“What most people are asking for is 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.