President Mohammadu Buhari has ordered probes into the sale of Nigerian
\nTelecommunications, NITEL and Mobile Telecommunications, MTEL sold for
\n$252million to NATCOM Consortium during the regime of President Goodluck
\nJonathan.<\/p>\n
Buhari while receiving reports from the Permanent Secretary of the
\nMinistry of Communication Technology said the probe has become necessary
\nfollowing protests from NITEL workers over the way and manner the
\norganization was sold.<\/p>\n
It will be recalled that former President Jonathan\u2019s administration sold
\nthe telecom company for $252m to NATCOM consortium in December 2014.<\/p>\n
Buhari also directed the Ministry of Communications Technology to work
\nharder to fully develop the revenue-generation potential of Nigeria’s
\ninformation technology sector.<\/p>\n
Speaking after receiving a briefing from the Permanent Secretary of the
\nMinistry, Dr. Tunji Olaopa, President Buhari\u00a0 also directed the Ministry
\nto bring forward for his consideration and approval, all pending proposals
\nfor the development of the country’s IT sector which require the approval
\nof the Federal Executive Council.<\/p>\n
“Where you don\u2019t need EXCO approval and you are not in breach of the law
\nand will not lose money, you can go ahead. Now that oil costs less and we
\nare contending with its theft, we have to move to areas where we can
\nrealize revenue quickly,\u201d the President said.<\/p>\n
President Buhari welcomed the plan by the Ministry to use post-offices
\nacross the country for IT and financial transactions especially in the
\nrural communities, saying that he was happy to hear that \u201cwe are
\nrecovering the post offices from rats and rodents.\u201d<\/p>\n
The President also asked for a comprehensive report on the sale of the
\nNigerian Telecommunications Company (NITEL), saying that he was concerned
\nby the continuing protests of former NITEL employees and other Nigerians
\nover the manner in which assets of the company were sold.<\/p>\n
The Ministry\u2019s presentation to the President dwelled heavily on the
\npotential of the IT sector which, Dr. Olaopa said, contributes 10 percent
\nof the country’s Gross Domestic Product, GDP, but could grow to 20 percent
\nif some proposals by the Ministry are approved and implemented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Mohammadu Buhari has ordered probes into the sale of Nigerian Telecommunications, NITEL and Mobile Telecommunications, MTEL sold for $252million to NATCOM Consortium during the regime of President Goodluck Jonathan.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":41328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-41312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n