NITEL: What Next After Latest Privatisation Attempt Falls Through?

The Nigerian government has terminated the privatisation of the dormant fixed-line incumbent operator Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL). In a statement issued on June 15 2011, the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) said the process was terminated because of the inability of reserve bidder Omen International to revalidate its bid bond of US$105mn by the deadline of June 10 2011. This development will not come as a surprise to many observers considering the controversies that surrounded this latest attempt to privatise NITEL and the seemingly lack of credibility of the top bidders in the process.

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