President Buhari ordered the investigation of NITEL sale

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered investigation into the sale of Nigerian Telecommunications, NITEL, and Mobile Telecommunications, MTEL, under the administration of ex-president Goodluck Jonathan.

The telecom company was sold for $252m to NATCOM consortium in December 2014.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Communication and Technology, told State House Correspondents on Tuesday after briefing the President Buhari that the president had directed him to raise a memo on the whole transaction to ascertain if there were any underhand dealings.

The official also disclosed that President Buhari expressed worry over the quality of service rendered by the telecom operators in Nigeria.

He said: “The President was concerned about the liquidation of NITEL. He is not opposed to its privatization but he wants to know and he want us to bring a memo on how the whole transaction was undertaken so that he would know whether Nigeria was shortchanged.

“The President was concerned by the quality of service of telecom operators. The President is very concerned about the whole issue of privatization that is hindering the investments in ICT infrastructure, and he will personally champion this. The President talked about the potentials of the ICT sector in generating employment.” 

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