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The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has approved the sale of a property owned by Nigerian Telecommunications Plc (NITEL) and Nigerian Mobile Telecommunications (MTEL). The property, located at 3-5 Moloney Street, Tafawa Balewa Square, Onikan, Lagos, is listed for sale at N2.5 billion.
This property is part of the assets being sold under the liquidation of NITEL/MTEL. However, the property is currently occupied illegally, and the Lagos State government has promised to take control without issues, according to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
The approval was given at the NCP’s second meeting of 2023, held on February 21, and chaired by Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo.
NITEL was established in 1984 and started operations in 1985, with the Nigerian government owning 93.3% of the company, while First Bank of Nigeria held 6.7%. MTEL, which was created in 1996 as a part of NITEL, began offering cellular services in 2003 after obtaining a GSM license from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
The NCP had previously approved the privatization of NITEL and MTEL through “guided liquidation” in 2012. This strategy was chosen after previous attempts to privatize the companies through other methods failed, partly due to their large debts, which exceed N300 billion.
Under the “guided liquidation” strategy, the companies’ main assets and operations are being sold to qualified buyers under the supervision of the Liquidator, with guidance from the NCP.
