[daily independent] The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Christopher Anyanwu, has assured prospective investors in NITEL and its mobile arm, M-tel, that the transaction process will be open and transparent. He disclosed this at the end of a two day Investors Forum on the privatization of the telecommunications company held in London between Monday, May 18 and Tuesday May 19.
"We stake our integrity and honour to ensure that international best practices are followed; and we will ensure a deal that is best for the country as well as the investors," he pledged.
To ensure the integrity of the process, the BPE boss further assured investors that Federal Government will be flexible with the transaction timetable, but cautioned that BPE hopes to bring the transaction to a financial closure by the end of September this year.
On the issue of full legal and financial disclosure, Anyanwu said that the Federal Government has nothing to hide in the operations of the two companies, promising to be open and transparent throughout the transaction process.
Also speaking at the forum, the Group Managing Director of Trans National Corporation of Nigeria (TRANSCORP), Mr. Nick Okoro, assured the prospective investors that the board and management of TRANSCORP will give maximum support to ensure quick and successful conclusion of the transaction. "We are anxious to see the transaction to a successful close," he noted.
In his contribution, the managing director of NITEL, Mr. Kevin Caruso, said NITEL was the only operator in Nigeria with full network coverage of the entire country, adding that NITEL/MTEL are brown field investments that just needed to be refurbished to realize their full potentials in just a few months.
Speaking in the same vein, the managing director of M-tel, Mr. Ladi Williams, disclosed that M-tel currently has about 5.4 million lines installed capacity and about 200 virgin sites waiting to be deployed immediately.
The Bureau noted that Mr. Herve Hascoet and Mr. Herve de Villechabrole, both of BNP Paribas, and Mr. Emeka Obi of Eleda Capital Partners, who are all advisers to the transaction, were also present at the conference.
anwu, has said that the immediate rehabilitation and operation of Notore Chemical industries Limited will be critical to the realization of food sufficiency in the country.
Anyanwu made this declaration when he paid a familiarization visit to Notore Chemical industries Limited, the core investor in the former National Fertilizer Company of Nigeria (NAFCON), in Onne, Port Harcourt, Rivers State recently.
He said government has not lost sight of why it privatized the enterprise, adding that the nation's food security hinges on the efficient operation of the enterprise and similar ones. He assured the management and staff of the enterprise that the Federal Government through the BPE will give all necessary support to ensure that the plant reaches its full potential, subject to practicable proposals from Notore, stressing that they have wide options to explore.
The Managing Director and CEO of Notore, Mr. Jite Okoloko, who was represented by the Chief Technical Officer (CTO), Mr. Charles Odita, told the BPE delegation that the core investors had already commenced production of ammonia in January and that urea production would commence this month.
"We will leverage our unique low cost and high quality producer position, resulting from our competitive gas contract and our special Formaldehyde Coated Granules, to dominate the Sub-Saharan agro-allied market and become the number one agro-allied company by market share and profitability in Africa," the Managing Director declared.
He said the company is focusing in three major areas to achieve this. The areas, he noted, include rapid expansion of fertilizer production; championing the adoption of high yield seed varieties; and by expanding down-stream in the agriculture value chain.
Okoloko affirmed that the intention of the company was to champion the African Green Revolution to help the continent attain self-sufficiency in food production.
He appealed to the federal government to give the company the right of first refusal on Gas Transmission Infrastructure (GTI) and the food processing mills and silos when they come up for privatisation. He also appealed to the federal government to assist it with the dredging of the river channel that leads to the jetty to 9.5m.
Meanwhile, the Director General of BPE has assured all stakeholders in the privatisation exercise that he will personally spearhead the post-privatisation monitoring of enterprises.
BPE Assures Investors on Nitel Privatisation
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