BY CHIOMA GABRIEL
Since 2002 when the Federal Government began the process of privatising Nigerian Telecommunications, NITEL, things have not remained the same in the organisation. Across the states in the Nigerian federation, NITEL facilities are wasting away.
Before the introduction of Global System of Mobile Communication , NITEL alone was holding sway in the Nigerian telecommunications industry. With the introduction of GSM networks in 2000, NITEL acquired its own GSM code which was 0804 after MTN's 0803 and ECONET's 0802. But as the other GSM lines progressed, netting trillions, NITEL's GSM network along with it's land-lines have become mere historical reference.
This downward trend rubbished the innovation started in 2001 when NITEL management, then under the control of government, made interesting moves in communication in Nigeria.It installed beautiful public phone booths in many public places. It was possible then to just purchase call units and obtain plastic call cards which were used at the subscriber's convenience. But in less than ten years,those booths disappeared and NITEL became moribund.
The ordeal of NITEL began when Investors International London Limited (IILL) wanted to buy the company at the sum of 1.317 billion dollars but couldn't honour the terms of the contract.
Pentascope, a Dutch firm, later took over NITEL in 2003 and the company generated N51.43 billion as revenue in one year from 555,055 connected lines. But after 23 months, the connected lines dropped to 440,000 and the firm incurred a debt of over N40 billion, which eventually led to the revocation of deal with Pentascope.
Orascom, an Egyptian telecoms giant, tried to buy the company in 2005 but failed because its 257 million dollars bid was below the reserved price.
The sale in 2006 of NITEL to Transnational Corporation,TRANSCORP,was successful but the excitement that greeted it was shortlived after the 500 million-dollar deal failed to turn around the fortunes of the company.
A Chinese consortium, Generation Telecommunications Consortium, later bidded for the company at the price of 2.5 billion dollars for 75 per cent stake but the deal was terminated due to failure of the consortium to pay the bid price.
Today, the government is still seeking bidders for NITEL after these failed attempts.
Saturday Vanguard investigations revealed that NITEL facilities nationwide have been vandalised while many others have been taken over by weeds. In almost all the major cities in Nigeria, NITEL offices have been shut down.
In 2008, the Senate Committee on Communications, under the Chairmanship of Senator Sylvester Anyanwu, 'probed' the alleged mismanagement of over N112 billion in the PENTASCOPE/NITEL deal. Although Senator Anyanwu assured then that the probe would reveal many fraudulent deals behind the BPE-led privatization of NITEL,nothing much came out of it.
Visits to major cities across Nigeria to see the condition of NITEL facilities elicited tales of woe.
In RiversState , NITEL facilities there are still being managed by TRANSCORP since the Federal Government has not appointed a competent investor.
In Bayelsa,the exchange in Yenagoa, with an installed capacity of 1,000 lines, was shut down in 2009.
In Benin, the exchange has been taken over by weeds and reptiles while the one in Akpakpava is being occupied by the Nigeria Postal Service (NIPOST).
In EnuguState, the exchange at Nsukka was reportedly abandoned since 2006 when government retrenched many of the workers.
In Awka, unserviceable NITEL vehicles littered the premises of the once busy complex and the company had reportedly engaged the services of a private firm to protect NITEL facilities in the state.
NITEL has about nine exchanges with installed capacity of 5,000 lines in Uyo and Calabar and both the Digital Telephone Exchange in Calabar, the Aba-Calabar Optical Fibre Transmission Link inaugurated by a former Head of State, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar,have since been abandoned.
There are 19 NITEL exchanges in KanoState, two in the municipal, while the remaining 17 are in the local government areas of the state. Most of the facilities in the state have been vandalised. It is the same story in Yobe and many states across the country as most of the cables and poles in the exchanges have also been vandalised.
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