Ekesiani tasks Jonathan on NITEL

Chief Executive Officer, Voicewares Networks Limited, Mr. Gerry Ekesiani, has tasked the Acting President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan to ensure quick resolution of the stalemate relating to the recent sale of the Nigeria Telecommunications Plc (NITEL).

Speaking in Abuja recently, Ekesiani said that to allow the issue to filter for a long time or even away is not in the best interest of the country and the company, NITEL.

Intervening on the matter, now he said, would forestall any idea that could course the company to further decay at the expense of the Nigerian people.

Ekesiani, who was the former Managing Director of Geosana Digital Communications Limited and immediate past second Vice President, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) made the call after an industry stakeholders’ session with the new Minister of State for Information and Communications, Mr. Labaran Maku, which gave him an opportunity to meet with telecom industry operators.

Ekesiani noted that the bid conducted by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) was adjudged as very transparent and that New Generation Consortium Limited made the highest bid and was rightly awarded the preferred bidder.

“Therefore, winner of the auction process,” he said, and wondered why anybody should put on hold a process that was successfully concluded.

He urged the acting president Goodluck Jonathan to wade into the matter in the interest of Nigeria’s economic progress.

ITRealms Online recalls that Voicewares Networks Limited, a national rural telephony programme (NRTP) operstor in Enugu zone which covers Anambra, Abia, Ebonyi, Enugu, Imo and Benue States offers fixed wired lines and fixed wireless to the unserved and underserved senatorial zones of the six states. It is expected to roll out services in June this year.

Equally, ITRealms Online notes that Federal lawmakers had earlier applauded the Bureau of Public Enterprises for its recent sale of Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and Mobile Telecommunications (Mtel) to New Generation Consortium Limited.

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