The president of the Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Titi Omo-Ettu has advised the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) to be wary of the First National Operator (FNO) license in custody of the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) which is in the process of ‘guided liquidation.’
ITRealms Online recalls that a few
days ago, the Federal Government had proclaimed that NITEL could be disposed
under the ‘guided liquidation’ tag, which is expected to make for an easy seal
to its potential final destination.
Although in the past, several
attempts were made to sale NITEL, these attempts were not successful, ATCON
insisted that the First National Operator (FNO) license in custody of NITEL is
worth some $2.2 billion, about
Reacting to the recent pronouncement
by the Federal Government, ATCON leadership argued that whatever is the meaning
of ‘guided liquidation!’ should be explained to Nigerians.
Speaking through its president,
ATCON noted earlier call for an Auction of the First National Operator (FNO)
license which NITEL is holding while the winding up process continue to
navigate its ways that is exactly what government has now done.
As said by him, any liquidation at
all, is a technical matter, hence, he refused to claim verse in this particular
‘guided liquidation’ theory.
“I am not versed in the subject so I
do not want to let that vocabulary stow into my thought process,” he declared.
Omo-Ettu maintained that he had since
2009 switched off all thoughts about NITEL when he considered that the final
end came for the company.
He stressed that he had previously valuated the license that NITEL was
holding and came up with a figure which hovered around $2.2billion.
“I did not keep it to myself. I
called a press conference and explained the explainable part of the valuation
and how it would guide us in knowing what the country stood to gain, or loose,
if such estimation was required to guide a decision,” he said.
However, he said that if by ‘guided
liquidation’ is meant a process of resting the corporate name called NITEL
and doing the best to recoup whatever is left of the whole project called
NITEL, then, there may not be readily alternatives.
“I think there is really no other
choice than to do just that. Except that it is coming three years late. It may
then mean that my position in 2009 synchs with what has now been announced,” he
said.
Further, he advised whoever is
implementing the ‘guided liquidation’
to take cognizance of the company they are liquidating as it still has in custody
the First National Operator License.
Remmy Nweke
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