The Nation Newspaper

Category: Uncategorized

  • Adefarati’s son campaigns for ACN in Akoko

    Adefarati’s son campaigns for ACN in Akoko

    Son of the former Governor of Ondo State, the late Adebayo Adefarati, Otunba Adegoyega Adefarati, at the weekend surprised the people of Akungba-Akoko when he toured the 22 polling units at Akungba and donated an unspecified amount.

    The move, according to political observers, has dwindled the fortune of the ruling Labour Party (LP) in Akoko South West where the incumbent Deputy Governor Ali Olanusi hails from.

    He thanked them for the support they have given him since he came into politics.

    Adefarati said he visited them to appreciate their support for the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) and its governorship candidate, Mr. Oluwarotimi Akeredolu (SAN).

    According to him, no political party could compete with the ACN in the area, stressing that the good work of the late Adekunle Ajasin and his father would remain a reference point in the area and the state.

    An ACN chieftain and lawyer, Tolu Babaleye, said: “We are the party to beat in the coming election because ACN is the only party in Nigeria that has programmes that have impacted on the lives of Nigerians.

    An ACN elder and traditional chief, Alhaji Yekini Yussuf, said Akungba would be grateful to Adefarati for uplifting the name of the town.

    He said the politician, who contested for a seat in the House of Representatives in the last election, is maintaining and building on the good reputation of his late father.

    Yussuf said Adefarati is a politician in touch with the grassroots, adding that he never discriminates on the basis of religion.

    He said: “We are still talking about his generosity during the last Eid-il Fitr and then this latest gesture.”

    Yussuf said Akeredolu would emerge victorious in the October 20 election.

    He added: “I know that Akeredolu will poll over 90 per cent votes in Akungba. He will win in the local government areas in Ondo Northern Senatorial District.”

    Present at the event were Akungba elite and opinion leaders including Mr. Seinde Mise, Ojo Mise and Sola Adejoro, who said Akungba votes were for ACN.

     

  • Oke urges electorate to be vigilant

    Oke urges electorate to be vigilant

    The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Ondo State, Chief Olusola Oke, at the weekend promised to give a new lease of life to the people of the riverine communities in Ilaje and Ese -Odo, if given the mandate to rule the state.

    Oke, who was given a rousing welcome in Ilaje Local Government, said he would use the fund meant for the State Oil Producing Area Development Commission (OSOPADEC) to develop the area.

    He said the Olokola Free Trade Zone and Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas (OKLNG), meant to provide jobs for the people of the state would come on stream if he is given the opportunity to rule.

    According to him, the building of the Igbokoda/Ayetoro Road would be completed, while the construction of the road that linked the community to the site of the free trade zone would also be completed during his tenure.

    Oke warned the people against selling their voter’s cards to politicians bent on manipulating the votes to get undue advantage during the poll.

    He said although a lot of money would be given to them to buy their conscience during the election, it would not be in their interest to sell their votes and suffer in the next four years.

    The PDP governorship standard bearer said his experience as a public office holder would be used to govern the state.

    He said he would win the election because the people of the state knew him and his economic blueprint would earn him victory.

    He said: “By the grace of God and the support of the people, I am the next governor of Ondo State. The indigenes and residents know me and my running mate, Saka Lawal.

    “We have a unique economic agenda designed to provide solution to the economic problems confronting the state, caused by improper management of the resources. We must salvage this state together because of the coming generation.

    “We are confident that our economic agenda will earn us the mandate of our people.”

    Oke, the former National Legal Adviser of the PDP, said the youth must support the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to ensure that the votes of the people count.

    He said politicians must support any effort that would guarantee free and fair election, adding that this becomes imperative because of the moves of a particular party to rig the election.

  • Sambo, Tinubu, Akande storm Ondo tomorrow

    Sambo, Tinubu, Akande storm Ondo tomorrow

    Leaders of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN] led by its National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande and the National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as well as other bigwigs including Chief Segun Osoba, Otunba Niyi Adebayo, Alhaji Lam Adesina and the National Publicity Secretary, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, among others will tomorrow be in Ikare Akoko, for a big rally tagged: “Redemption Rally.”

    Vice-President Namadi Sambo and other leaders of the Peoples Democratic Party[PDP] are also billed for Akure for the party’s mega rally.

    The Director-General of the Olusola Oke Campaign Organisation, Dare Bada, said the essence of the rally was to show the seriousness of the party in winning the forthcoming election.

    Other notable PDP leaders expected at the rally, according to him, are former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Senate President David Mark, National Chairman of the party, Bamanga Tukur, Speaker of the House of Representatives Aminu Tambuwal, PDP governors and other leaders of the party across the country.

    Bada said the rally would be used to clear the air on the speculation that the national leadership of the PDP would support another party’s candidate against its own governorship standard bearer.

    Spokesman for the Redemption of the ACN, Ademola Adetula, said the rallies would be held tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday.

    He said they would be held in the three senatorial districts namely, Ikare Akoko (Ondo North) tomorrow, Ondo (Ondo Central) on Wednesday and Ore (Ondo South) on Thursday.

    According to him, the rallies would be the biggest in the history of the state.

    Adetula said it would enable the governorship candidate of the party, Rotimi Akeredolu [SAN], to inform the people of his development-oriented programmes.

    He urged them to troop out en masse to welcome the party’s standard bearer in the forthcoming election, Akeredolu and his running mate, Paul Akintelure, at the rallies, assuring that measures had been put in place to forestall breach of security.

    Other leaders expected at the rallies are ACN governors, national and state lawmakers and state and national leaders.

  • ACN govt ‘ll not neglect rural areas, says Akeredolu

    ACN govt ‘ll not neglect rural areas, says Akeredolu

    the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) governorship candidate in Ondo State, Mr. Rotimi Akeredolu (SAN), has reiterated his commitment to develop the rural areas.

    He urged the Ilaje people not to relent in their push for power shift at the poll this month.

    Akeredolu sympathised with the oil producing communities for the dearth of social infrastructure in the area in the last four years. He promised to stop the neglect “of the goose that lays the golden egg.”

    The ACN governorship candidate whose campaign train was at the riverine communities at the weekend, was welcomed by thousands of enthusiastic supporters.

    Many followers of the ruling Labour Party (LP) and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who had defected to the ACN, received brooms and the party’s flags from the ACN leader and pledged their support.

    Accompanied by his running mate, Dr. Paul Akintelure, the Campaign Director, Tayo Alasoadura, Women Leader, Erelu Modupe Johnson and Chief Olu Taurose, the ACN standard bearer visited Ugbo, Amoye, Obenla, Upete, Ayetoro, Urunna and Ogbonla.

    “You voted for Chief Obafemi Awolowo and you did not regret it. You voted for Chief Adekunle Ajasin and you did not regret it. You voted for Chief Adebayo Adefarati and you did not regret it. Vote for me on October 20 and I assure you, you will not regret it,” Akeredolu told the crowd at Igbokoda.

    He paid tributes to traditional rulers, community elders and grassroots leaders who he said have maintained an abiding faith in the cause of freedom for all and made life abundant since the days of Awolowo.

    He said their dream of repositioning Ilaje and Ondo State would be realised by the ACN.

    The lawyer said it was sad that no road had been built and rehabilitated in the neglected Ilaje communities, despite the huge money made from natural deposits by the government.

    He described the marginalisation as a wicked act by those who have closed their eyes to pity, assuring that relief was at hand.

    Akeredolu said: “We have a new crop of selfless, patriotic and dedicated leaders who are compassionate.

    They have embraced the transformation of their states and region with a passion. Gone are the days of avarice and graft in the Southwest. There is much work to do. No sacrifice is too much to make for our people; our fathers and mothers, our youths, our farmers, our petty traders, our artisans and peasants.”

  • ‘Mimiko’s remark at debate unfortunate’

    ‘Mimiko’s remark at debate unfortunate’

    A national officer of the Niger Delta Youth Movement (NDYM), Mr. Bright Ojubuyi, yesterday decried a statement credited to Governor Olusegun Mimiko during Friday’s governorship debate in Akure.

    He quoted Mimiko as saying he would continue to do what he had been doing for the past three and a half years, which many people had been criticising.

    Ojubuyi said: “Ondo State under Governor Mimiko has witnessed massive fraud, deceit, misplaced priorities, huge debt, mass unemployment, dearth of infrastructure, among others.

    “Mimiko, instead of telling the people his manifestos, said he will improve on what he has been doing. What this implies is that his administration will continue borrowing money and he will use the next four years to service debts.”

    He described Mimiko’s statement as embarrassing, stressing that he has nothing good for the masses.

    He alleged that the debate has exposed his antics and the bad programmes he has for the citizenry.

    The NDYM officer urged the electorate to reject Mimiko at the polls on October 20.

    He canvassed support for the Peoples Democratic Party’s [PDP’s] candidate, Chief Olusola Oke, who, according to him, possessed leadership qualities.

  • Coalition faults composition of Ondo PDP committee

    Coalition faults composition of Ondo PDP committee

    Is Vice-President Namadi Sambo is expected to begin the mega rallies of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Ondo State tomorrow, a group in the party, the PDP Coalition for Positive Change, yesterday sought the inclusion of some people in the National Campaign Committee of the party.

    The group said the list released by the National Working Committee (NWC), headed by Sambo, did not reflect the interests of the party in the state.

    The group, through its central and southern district coordinators, Dele Akinnawo and Chief Steven Ogbaro, said the campaign committee was a welcome development, but the absence of some members was unfair.

    They said the omission of the names of the former Chairman of the party, Dr. Tayo Dairo, former Minister of Defence, Prince Tokunbo Kayode (SAN) and the Director-General of the Olusola Oke Campaign Committee, Dr. Dare Bada was not good.

    According to the group, the lopsidedness in the composition of the campaign committee was a justification of its allegation that some leaders of the party were not being carried along in the affairs of the party.

    Akinnawo said the inclusion of some people who are known sympathisers of the opposition parties in the committee showed that PDP was not ready to reward commitment and hard work.

    His words: “What are the criteria for the composition? We believe that leaders of the party that are committed should have been considered for membership.

    “One wonders why leaders such as Prince Kayode, a financial member of the party with unquestionable loyalty should be left out of the membership. Only last week, Oke lauded this leader for his commitment to the party’s success.

    “Dr. Dairo is also one person whose name is missing on the list. This was a man who paid the political sacrifice by resigning his position as the state chairman of the party to end the crisis that rocked the party. Why should his name be left out?”

    The group said Bada should have been co-opted into the committee so that there would be a synergy between the national and state campaign committees.

    It added that names of some members who were being persuaded to participate in the campaigns should be removed so that committed members who were ready to work would be given the opportunity.

     

  • 52 years on, the gold mines remain dormant

    Ore, a town in Odigbo Local Government Area of Ondo State, was the seat of the Bitumen Implementation Committee. Some years ago, the committee was disbanded when the nation decided to ‘close’ the chapter on the attempt to explore this black gold from which some other nations make fortunes. The office complex in Ore is now a reminder of failed attempts to tap this natural resource, which is in abundance in the Sunshine State.

    Gone are those days when Nigeria was the world’s largest producer of columbite and sixth largest producer of tin. The sector collapsed in the seventies.

    Not a few are looking forward to the day when the country will start drawing fortunes from its over 27 billion oil equivalent of bitumen, 2.7 trillion tons of limestone, about three billion tons of Iron-ore and 1.4 billion tons of coal.

    With these deposits, Nigeria is one of the richest in solid minerals in the world. Sadly though, most of the 40 minerals are largely untapped. At best, they are tapped illegally on small scale mining level. The sector’s contribution to the GDP last year was a meagre 0.4 percent.

    Concerned by the state of exploration of mineral resources, the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explorationists (NAPE) recently urged the Ondo State government to ensure its abundant mineral resources are tapped.

    The President, NAPE, Afe Mayowa, spoke during a visit to Governor Olusegun Mimiko. He said the Geological Survey of Nigeria has identified 11 solid minerals in the state. Only three — bitumen, coal and limestone — are categorised as Federal Governments strategic minerals for development.

    Others that remain underutilised, according to the survey, are: kaolin, gemstone, gypsium, feldspar, granite, clay, glass-sand, and dimension stones. They are left for illegal miners to feed fat on. But, the illegal mining of these resources has not been without consequences. Recently, Doctors without Borders said lead poisoning has, in the last two years, killed over 400 children in Zamfara State as a result of the dust released by illegal gold miners breaking open rocks.

    As Solid Minerals Minister, Mrs Obiageli Ezekwesili produced the first blueprint for the exploitation of 34 solid metals. The blueprint, which was done with the support of the World Bank in 2004, was to drive the Sustainable Management of Mineral Resources Project (SMMRP), with the objectives of: increasing government technical and institutional capacity; managing the solid mineral sector in a sustainable way; and creating a basis for nonfarm rural renewal through the development of artisanal and small scale mining.

    Through the SMMRP, the post-Olusegun Obasanjo era has seen the establishment of the legal and institutional framework to make the sector attractive to global players. The Mineral and Mining Act 2007, Mining Regulations 2011, Minerals and Mining Policy 2008 and the establishment of the Mining Cadastre Office are steps that have been taken through the SMMRP.

    Thanks to the World Bank, the Federal Government has strengthened the Nigeria Geological Agency. The country has also completed airborne geophysical coverage. Also, not less than 16,000 mining grants have been processed. No less than 50 investors from Australia, Canada and China are embarking on exploration activities around the country.

    But analysts believe there is need to fund the projects through sustainable means, such as the National Resources Fund.

    In April, while signing the “Roadmap for the Development of the Solid metals Sector”, President Goodluck Jonathan reiterated his commitment to “the diversification of our economy away from over-dependence on oil as the principal revenue source.”

    He promised to develop an industry-wide capacity building programmes for both small and medium scale mining companies, “with the aim of entrenching sustainability in the exploitation of all mineral resources”.

    He foresaw a situation whereby the sector would contribute “at least 5 percent to the nation’s GDP by 2015″ and create “about three million direct and indirect jobs”.

    But how possible is this, with the sector’s low funding by the Federal Government? Perhaps, it is relying on foreign help. Minister of Mines and Steel Development Musa Sada recently received a delegation from North Korea.

    After the meeting, he said: “We have the natural resources and we are asking investors to come in with their funds and skills to be able to help in exploiting these resources. One of the major issues that we have to face is job creation. As basic as the industry is, anybody, even if you didn’t go to school, operate some of the machines. We are targeting job creation through the use of basic technology.”

    He said North Korea has a lot of technical competence in mining solid minerals, especially the manipulation of stones for various purposes.

    Until these efforts yield dividends, it is not morning yet on the mining field.

  • NITEL…so long, too long

    The unsuccessful attempts by the Federal Government to privatise or liquidate the Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) and its mobile arm in the past 10 years are worrisome. The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) made five attempts. All of them crashed. As a last resort, the National Commission on Privatisation (NCP) opted for “Guided Liquidation” as strategy for the privatisation of the national telecom firm.

    NCP, which formulates policy guidelines for BPE and approves the privatisation of government companies, said the liquidation approach was arrived at in view of the huge liabilities of both companies and in the absence of viable financial alternative presented by the management of NITEL/Mtel.

    But, the National Assembly has kicked against the new approach and ordered BPE to stay action on liquidating NITEL/Mtell. The decision has thrown BPE into a state of confusion over what to do with NITEL/Mtel privatisation.

    Chairman Senate Committee on Privatisation Senator Gbenga Obadara (ACN Ogun Central) told The Nation that: “We say no to liquidation because it is against the national interest. The guided liquidation approach adopted by NCP was meant to dispose NITEL at a give away price.

    “We stopped them because they failed to tell us the present value of NITEL and its sister company M-tel. If they know the debt of the company, they should be able to tell us its worth,”Obadara said.

    According to him the Senate decision was borne out of the way and manner NCP sold NECOM House, Lagos, against Presidential directive on May 16, 2007. The edifice was sold for four billion naira (N4bn}. This amount did not worth the land, the structure and the facilities therein. The transaction was shrouded in controversy.

    Obadara blamed government agencies for the failure of NITEL, saying they refused to pay their bills after using the company services. “The Federal Government is responsible for the insolvency of the company. NITEL has shrunk to a fraction of its worth as new private sector entrants have snapped up market share and deployed new technology while its equipment deteriorated due to disuse and poor maintenance.

    “The Senate won’t authorise the going forward of this liquidation. To start with, the concept of ‘guided liquidation’ seems suspect. Liquidation takes place when a company is severely indebted and can no longer earn or borrow the funds to finance its operations and pay its debts. The sole aim of liquidation is to recover as much as possible, from selling the assets of the companies to pay debts,” Obadara explained.

    The House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation has ruled out guided liquidation approach in disposing NITEL assets. Chairman of the committee Mrs. Khadijat Bukar- Ibrahim said, in a telephone interview with our correspondent, that” though our final report is not ready but we have told NCP to forget guided liquidation.”

    Defending the privatisation approach before the Senate committee, Chairman NCP Technical Committee Atedo Peterside explained that liquidation is to successfully privatise NITEL for the benefits of both the investor and the Federal Government. According to him, liquidation means that someone can buy off the company and be protected from the creditors.

    “Liquidation is making it attractive to be able to sell NITEL without the risk. Nobody is willing to invest in a business with such huge debt burden, but liquidation will make it attractive and competitive, that is the only way you can get investors to come in”.

    Obadara believes liquidation is not the answer. The Senate, he said is considering contracting out the management of NITEL or giving it out through concession. But before doing this, the whole entity would be evaluated, we will know the worth of NITEL through asset probing or auditing. It is after these steps have been taken that we can know who owe NITEL and who the company owes.

    Peterside disclosed that NITEL at the moment is being owed N35billion, while the company is indebted to the Federal Government to the tune of N178 billion. Details of the debt given include N179 billion owed Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) and others. The liabilities also include N65.2 billion indebtedness to equipment vendors, N81 billion bank claims and N24 billion for others. He also told the committee that Federal Government was paying N600 million to NITEL workers for doing nothing.

    Experts have spoken in favour of privatisation or liquidation of NITEL. The president of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr Lanre Ajayi told our correspondent that the a new auction process should be the next thing for NITEL.

    The immediate past president of ATCON, Mr Titi Omo-Ettu, said the major value in the embattled national telecom firm is its First National Operator (FNO) Licence it is holding and a component of assets and liabilities which are figures that have to be computed by technical minds. He noted that the FNO status has not changed very significantly while other assets of NITEL and liabilities have run almost to zero. According to him in 2008, NITEL was evaluated at $2.2 billion for 100 per cent sale.

    NITEL’s value today is not less than $1.8 billion, Omo-Ettu said. He explained that the major changes that count since 2008 and now were the coming of Etisalat and the two submarine fibres- Main One and Glo 1. They will cause some depreciation, but not significantly as to make it worthless. First National Operator Licence is a huge asset for those who can use it to good effect. That is the value. NITEL as a brand will no longer fly and whoever buys the licence must not do any other thing than to use it as FNO.

    “We should not be thinking that NITEL still exists except in law and on paper, but the FNO it is holding and wasting is the key value that should make meaning to us. Whoever buys the licence would re-brand the FNO and set at business. Hopefully BPE would have set the conditions which must not be flouted”.

    The telecommunications expert is worried about the long time it has taken government to sell NITEL and cautioned BPE against doing anything that could ridicule the FNO, insisting that if the sale is not handled professionally, it will lead to monopoly of the license, which he said would devalue the nation’s First National Carrier. Omo-Ettu advised BPE to auction the licence and allow the best bidder to buy NITEL.

    His position perhaps makes sense when juxtaposed with the fact that even in its present form, the Federal Government has realised over N101 billion from the company.

    Director-General of BPE, MrS. Bolanle Onagoruwa, revealed this fact at the opening of a two-day investigative hearing on the activities of Mtel/NITEL’s management board, status of its investment as well as revenue generation from ongoing services rendered to other telecommunication companies in Nigeria held by the House Joint Committee on privatisation, finance, communications, public procurement and information technology.

    The BPE boss noted that National Council on Privatisation (NCP) is favourably disposed to adopting “guided liquidation” against the injection of $1 billion for the re-activation of the two telecoms companies as alternatives.

    Onagoruwa argued that the debt profile of the public parastatal stood at N354 billion. But IIlyasu-Sa’ab put the total debt profile at N182 billion of which NITEL owed N79 billion while Mtel owed N103 billion.

    She disclosed that $3,668,561.70 was generated from Sat-3 submarine cable, $2,855,091.81 remitted in the domiciliary account, $521,990 generated from British Telecoms, $290,230 from cable and wireless services while $1,249.84 was realised from interest.

    According to her, the companies liabilities include N65,227,595,681 on equipment vendors; N81,711,196,994 on bank claims; N183,403,439,256 for government agencies and N24,504,836,126 for others.

    She added that Federal Government raised N68,248,884,000 through Debt Management Office, DMO, to offset outstanding salaries totalling N54.2 billion, leaving a debt profile at N122,448,884,000 with Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria, AMCON.

    Khadijat Ibrahim, chairperson of the committee and her colleagues in the joint committee, queried BPE over the N172 billion differential in the debt profile compiled by both parties.

    Ibrahim said: “I see no reason why the Federal Government cannot put money into NITEL and Mtel and resuscitate them.”

    What is the way forward now that the Senate has halted further action on the liquidation move?

    BPE spokesman Chukwuma Nwoko said the bureau is awaiting directives from NCP on the way forward regarding privatisation of NITEL/Mtel.

  • How to salvage NITEL, by expert

    Why do you think several attempts by the government to sell NITEL were unsuccessful?

    My suspicion is that the assets of the company are lower than the liability. When the liability is huge, nobody wants to buy. NITEL equipments are obsolete. The workforce are not updated in technical skills because they don’t have opportunities in attending trainings, nobody want to inherit such a workforce. Meanwhile, NITEL has shrunk to a fraction of its worth as new private sector entrants have taken over the large chunk of the market and deployed new technology while its equipment have deteriorated due to disuse and poor maintenance.

    Beside, government wants to make money from the sale of the telecommunications firm and this has continued to drag the fortunes of the company behind. The bid price of NITEL is extremely high. It’s also too large for one telecoms player to buy.

    Again, the previous attempts were unsuccessful because of the time lag before the government contact reserved bidder. When contacted, the reserve bidders were not allowed to review the bid they already quoted several months ago, during which assets of NITEL would have also deteriorated. To be specific such delay cannot be blamed on the BPE but on the Presidential Committee that the BPE reports to.

    National Assembly has stopped Bureau of Public Enterprise from liquidating NITEL assets. What do you think is the best approach?

    The more the sale of NITEL is delayed’ the more worthless its assets become. Its assets have been seriously eroded. NITEL’s submarine cable, the South Atlantic Terminal (SAT-3), perhaps its most valuable asset, is no longer the sole undersea cable in Nigeria. Bette-r maintained and higher capacity undersea cables have been laid by Main One and Globacom. MTN’s cable may be operative in Nigeria by next January.

    But the Senate is contemplating contracting out NITEL’s management through concession. What’s your view?

    We have tried the concession formula before. It is not a new concept to NITEL. It has been tried and failed. I do n’t know what we stand to gain from that. Remember, the Federal government under President Olusegun Obasanjo appointed Pentascope of Netherlands as management contractor, charged with revamping the company for the privatisation process. The Pentascope experiment was a failure. The Dutch firm left NITEL worse than it met it. The truth is that NITEL has lost monopoly of telecommunications market and its equipment are obsolete to compete effectively with the private sector that have financial muscle and modern equipment that have changed the face of the industry.

    Guided liquidation assumes that an investor exists somewhere that is willing to invest in repairing and upgrading NITEL’s facility and take a bet on successfully competing for customers with the four entrenched mobile telephone operators. The ultimate objectives of privatising infrastructure companies ought to be reducing government’s financial burden and improving the capacity of the enterprises to provide critical services that will make Nigerians more economically active and productive.

    Do you think NITEL can be attractive to buyers in its present form given the state of its facility?

    NITEL as an entity is not attractive because of the obsolete equipment and excruciating debts. But there are some infrastructures like spectrum which is a valuable asset that may attract investors. But the BPE must be transparent in selling the facility. BPE must separate the hidden liabilities from assets. It should advertise the assets to be sold so that a prospective buyer would know the total value what he wants to buy.

    Are there lessons to be learnt from the unsuccessful attempts to privatise NITEL?

    Government’s desire to sell NITEL at a high value is counterproductive. Selling to reputable and experienced companies at a seemingly low price appears more reasonable than having high bids from unknown entities that cannot finance the purchase. This option ensures access to companies who can invest in providing services and generating employment.

    There has also been an often mistaken desire to sell infrastructure companies to Nigerians. What the country needs are buyers who can invest and efficiently run NITEL and create jobs. Part of the problems of NITEL is influential Nigerians that hurriedly cobbled together companies which submitted grossly overvalued bids that they eventually fail to see through.

  • Constitution amendment ‘ll address challenges, says Ekweremadu

    Deputy Senate President Ike Ekweremadu has assured Nigerians that the on-going Constitution amendment would address the challenges facing the nation.

    Ekweremadu, who spoke in a goodwill message to mark the nation’s 52nd Independence Anniversary also urged Nigerians to support the project.

    On the setbacks suffered by the nation in its post-independence history, Ekweremadu regretted that “some basic constitutional frameworks laid by the founding fathers to engender a peaceful, united and prosperous nation had been gravely distorted.”

    But he assured the people that the National Assembly was poised to re-engineer the 1999 Constitution to restore the nation on the path of true and irreversible greatness.

    He said the national public hearing on Constitution review would hold on October 11 and 12 in Abuja.

    He listed issues for consideration to include devolution of powers among the tiers of government, fiscal federalism, state creation, the Police, local government system, rotation of executive offices, residency and indigene provisions, immunity clause, recognition of the six geo-political zones as well as Executive and Judicial reforms.

    These, he said, were informed by the memoranda submitted by Nigerians to the committee.

    He urged Nigerians to seize the opportunity of the public hearing and the amendment process to speak on the way forward for the nation.

    Ekweremadu enjoined leaders and the citizenry to “invest total political will, patriotism, altruism, and fair-mindedness in the ongoing project to make Nigeria a better place for this and future generations.”