Buhari orders probe on the sale of NITEL by the last administration

While receiving members of the Ministry of Information at the presidential villa today August 18th, President Buhari ordered a probe on the sale of NITEL to private investors in 2014 by the last administration, stating that he wants to know if Nigeria was short-changed.

According to the permanent secretary of the ministry Tunji Olaopa who spoke to state house correspondents after the meeting, President Buhari said the documents for the privatization should be handed over to him

"The president was also concerned about the liquidation of NITEL. He is not opposed to its privatization but he wants to know… and he wants us to bring a memo on how the whole transaction was undertaken so that he would know whether Nigeria was short-changed,” he said.

NITEL and its sister company, MTEL, were bought by a consortium owned by Skye Bank’s chairman, Tunde Ayeni, the founder of Sahara Energy, Tonye Cole, and two other companies for $242.3 million (about N42.4 billion) in December 2014.