The Nigerian government could be set to complete the guided liquidation of the defunct national telecoms company, the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL).
According to Daily Trust, the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) will reveal the preferred liquidator among the current five prospective candidates in June.
HumanIPO reported in April the failed privatisation of NITEL had become embroiled in corruption allegations between the former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar, and former minister of Abuja Federal Capital Territory, Nasir El-Rufai.
“[An official of the BPE] who pleaded anonymity, said the evaluation of expression of interests (EOIs) from five prospective liquidators who had earlier, in February, submitted their EOIs, would be concluded by BPE in three weeks time and thereafter it would be submitted to the court of law,” the paper reported.
“The NITEL liquidator would be announced a week after the evaluated EOIs have been ratified by the court, the official said.”
The former national telecoms company has regularly been in the news over the plans of the government to liquidate it following several failed attempts to revamp the federal establishment.
Speaking at Social Media Week Lagos in February, NITEL’s former chief operating officer Nicholas Okoye blamed mobile operators for its collapse, while it was also revealed Huawei had planned to invest US$627 million in the now defunct enterprise.
