Transcorp to inject $100m in NITEL

Transnational Corporation (TRANSCORP) Plc has said its committed to inject $100m into the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) transformation in the next four months.

Disclosing this, the Group Managing Director (GMD), Transcorp, Mr. Tom Iseghohi, disclosed this in Abuja yesterday, at an interactive session with top management of the company who pledged their loyalty to transform NITEL.

A press statement from Transcorp, Mr. Iseghohi was quoted as saying that this is one of the interim transformation plans of the company before the sale of some equity to a new core investor.

He said that the company has received commitments for the $100m required for the project.

The interim plan, he said, would not see the company completely out of the woods but is meant to reposition it to be able to attract the right kind of core investor envisaged by both Transcorp and the Federal Government.

“One of the key areas that needed a quick fix is the backbone and transmission infrastructure,” he said, adding that the current plan is expected to begin to yield result within a period of four months.

Iseghohi also said the first priority in the plan is to boost staff morale, an area which most workers of NITEL at the meeting pleaded with him to take urgent steps to address as he promised them of a new NITEL.

“Welcome to new NITEL, a NITEL where every staff is promptly paid. It is a new company where the quality of service matters and everybody works towards it,” he said, stressing that Transcorp has exercised its right to restructure the company.
“This move will return NITEL to its rightful place in the Nigerian telecom industry,” Iseghohi assured.

On why Transcorp had not fully moved into the company earlier to implement the transformation plan, the GMD said the company needed to move in gradually and carry every stakeholder along since it was not the only shareholder.

He further said that Transcorp is working assiduously to end the monthly leakage of about N1.7bn from the NITEL revenue.

Also speaking, at the interactive session, NITEL General Manager in charge of audit, Mr. Abdulkarim Momoh, said there was the need to probe the company’s investment in continental submarine cable popularly known as SAT-3.

Momoh pointed out that although SAT-3 has the capacity to generate funds to run NITEL, only a paltry part of the capacity was being utilized thereby leaving a lot that could have been tapped from the facility.


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