Acting President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday set up a panel led by the justice minister to probe the prospective buyers of former state telecoms firm Nitel, whose sale has been dogged by controversy.
"The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has set up a seven-member ad-hoc committee to undertake further due diligence on the prospective investors that bid for the sale of (Nitel) and its mobile arm, M-tel," the NCP said in a statement.
"The committee has seven days to submit its report to the NCP," the agency said, adding the committee included Finance Minister Mansur Muhtar and other top government officials.
The sale of Nitel became bogged down in confusion last month over the financial backers for a $2.5 billion preferred bid approved by the privatisation body. The preferred bidder announced on February 16 was a consortium including Unicom, China's second biggest carrier, little known Dubai company Minerva and a small local carrier.
Source: FG sets up panel to probe Nitel sale (http://www.businessdayonline.com/index.php/news/9225-fg-sets-up-panel-to-probe-nitel-sale)