Claims rejecting Atiku’s request for favour
Why sale of Daily Times went awry, by firms’ chiefs
BPE denies alleged govt’s shares in Eleme Petrochemical
FROM November 1999 to July 2003, he was the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and also the Secretary of the National Council of Privatisation (NCP). Thereafter he became the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), when he was seen as a member of the kitchen cabinet of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
But when Malam Nasir el-Rufai appeared before the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee probing the activities of the BPE and the sale of public entities yesterday, he did not spare his then boss of blame in the lapses associated with the exercise.
He told the panel that Obasanjo aborted the privatisation of the now rested national carrier, the Nigeria Airways, adding that he once turned down former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s request to favour a particular investor.
El-Rufai however said he was able to ward off interference from high places including Aso Rock. He claimed that the sale of Nigeria Airways suffered a setback because Obasanjo ignored his advice.
“Throughout my period in BPE, nobody influenced me except for one time when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar told me to favour a particular investor, which I turned down. No, none tried to interfere with my work. Obasanjo blocked the privatisation of Nigeria Airways particularly because former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Kema Chikwe would go and tell him stories. And what is the story today? The company is dead,’’ he said.
Also yesterday, two firms - Folio Communications Ltd and DSV Limited, traded words over the ownership of Daily Times of Nigeria Plc.
On the position of BPE in the privatisation exercise, El-Rufai said the succession issue in the establishment needed to be streamlined, pointing out that interference in the activities of the enterprise had affected its performance.
He recalled that he had advised the government to appoint directors-general (DGs) from within BPE because a lot of the senior officials had been trained. “I wrote a memo to the Vice President and I made suggestions that my successor should come from within BPE because we had spent a lot of money training people to prepare them for this because any time I travelled for more than a week, one of my six directors acted as the DG. On the basis of that I recommended three directors and three deputy directors.
“The government of the day said it would not appoint anyone from inside. They went and brought someone who literally was fired from BPE and brought him back. That is the beginning. They discarded rules, doing things capriciously, promoting people three levels ahead and the institution has suffered from this since then,’’ he said.
The panel headed by Senator Ahmed Lawan, appealed to El-Rufai to prepare a memo that would guide the operations of BPE so that others could benefit from his experience.
On the sale of Daily Times, Chairman, DSV Ltd and Director of Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN) Plc, Senator Ikechukwu Obiora, said Folio Communications Ltd won the bid but due to lack of fund obtained a N750 million loan from the company.
According to him, the 96.05 per cent of the DTN shares was valued N1.25 billion was put up as loan in order to raise the fund.
The amount, he said, was used to execute the Deed of Debenture over the assets of DTN and obtained an investment of N500 million from DSV Ltd in exchange for approximately 40 per cent of the total shares of the newspaper.
The situation, however, spawned litigations at the end of which the court ordered the repayment of N950 million within 35 days of the date of judgment. He told the committee that contrary to the verdict, Folio Communications did not pay the said sum but rather claimed selling DTN’s interest at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Building for N900 million, of which N500 million was used to repay part of the loan.
Speaking on what he termed illegal and fraudulent asset-stripping, Obiora alleged that contrary to the expectations of the BPE and the government, Fidelis and Noel Anosike (the Anosike Brothers) used Folio Communications Ltd to penetrate DTN with the aim of ridding it of its assets and abandoning the company thereafter.
“As soon as they came into DTN, Fidelis Anosike, Noel Anosike and Folio connived with some other persons to illegally and fraudulently sell and transfer the interests of DTN in the Naira Properties Ltd, the owner of the NSE Building.”
He also accused the Anosikes of dismantling and selling off heavy and sophisticated machinery and equipment at its printing press in Agidingbi and that these sales were done in disobedience to a court order. Obiora also said block of flats were sold, put up for lease. “DTN’s property on 40/42, Imam Dauda Road, Surulere, was mortgaged to Afri-Invest as security for the same property – premises of DTN’s Times Institute of Journalism.”
Obiora emphasised the failure of BPE to effectively monitor the post-privatisation exercise of commercialised companies. “The BPE completely abdicated its obligations of supervising and monitoring the post-privatisation management of DTN for the first five years after takeover of the company.”
In his response, Fidelis Anosike said the company scored over 82 per cent of the technical bidding process, which positioned it above other bidders and was named the preferred winner.
Contrary to Obiora’s claim, Anosike said the financial bid of N1.25 billion was paid in full and a receipt issued by BPE on behalf of the government. Subsequent upon the take-over of the company by Folio Communications, he said there was no workable press inherited until a two-man Roland 42 Press was installed in 2007.
According to him, the new management put in place by the former managing director of the company, Mr. Adrian Wood, began publishing of Daily Times and Business Times while four zonal centres were created.
In addition, he said four modern printing plants were procured but were impounded at the ports by the investment partner (Obiora).
He stressed the company was beset with challenges emanating from litigations, adding that due to public harassment and incessant use of the National Assembly by Obiora, Afribank reneged on the agreement to finance part of their working capital.
Anosike suggested the withdrawal of the injunction and subsequent release of the newly acquired printing equipment. With the equipment, he pledged to ensure that the three locations designated for installation of the tools begin printing in three months.
Meanwhile, the BPE has denied media reports that it illegally sold the government’s five per cent shares in Eleme Petrochemical Company Limited (EPCL), Port Harcourt to Indorama for N4.375 billion.
In a statement, BPE spokesman, Mr. Chukwuma Nwoko, described the reports as “entirety false, uninformed, mischievous and grossly misleading.’’
He said: “It must be noted that as the Secretariat of the NCP, the BPE could not embark on the sale of any public enterprise without the approval of the NCP and the EPCL transaction cannot be different.
“It may be recalled that EPCL was about to embark on a multi-billion dollar expansion programme, and that the inherent threat of FGN’s five per cent shareholding being diluted as a result of recapitalisation, necessitated the decision by the Technical Committee of the NCP to negotiate the price for the sale of the shares, on the understanding that the approval of the Council would be obtained before closure of the transaction.
“A request for approval of the transaction was forwarded to the NCP and to its chairman, giving full details of the processes adopted, and informing both the NCP and its chairman that the sum of N4.375 billion had been placed in an escrow account, pending the final approval of the NCP.
“These actions were taken in the firm belief that they were in the best interest of the nation, in line with the Federal Government’s policy on privatisation, and for the benefit of the Nigerian people”, she said.
Guardian.
Why sale of Daily Times went awry, by firms’ chiefs
BPE denies alleged govt’s shares in Eleme Petrochemical
FROM November 1999 to July 2003, he was the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and also the Secretary of the National Council of Privatisation (NCP). Thereafter he became the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), when he was seen as a member of the kitchen cabinet of former President Olusegun Obasanjo.
But when Malam Nasir el-Rufai appeared before the Senate Ad-Hoc Committee probing the activities of the BPE and the sale of public entities yesterday, he did not spare his then boss of blame in the lapses associated with the exercise.
He told the panel that Obasanjo aborted the privatisation of the now rested national carrier, the Nigeria Airways, adding that he once turned down former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s request to favour a particular investor.
El-Rufai however said he was able to ward off interference from high places including Aso Rock. He claimed that the sale of Nigeria Airways suffered a setback because Obasanjo ignored his advice.
“Throughout my period in BPE, nobody influenced me except for one time when former Vice President Atiku Abubakar told me to favour a particular investor, which I turned down. No, none tried to interfere with my work. Obasanjo blocked the privatisation of Nigeria Airways particularly because former Minister of Aviation, Mrs. Kema Chikwe would go and tell him stories. And what is the story today? The company is dead,’’ he said.
Also yesterday, two firms - Folio Communications Ltd and DSV Limited, traded words over the ownership of Daily Times of Nigeria Plc.
On the position of BPE in the privatisation exercise, El-Rufai said the succession issue in the establishment needed to be streamlined, pointing out that interference in the activities of the enterprise had affected its performance.
He recalled that he had advised the government to appoint directors-general (DGs) from within BPE because a lot of the senior officials had been trained. “I wrote a memo to the Vice President and I made suggestions that my successor should come from within BPE because we had spent a lot of money training people to prepare them for this because any time I travelled for more than a week, one of my six directors acted as the DG. On the basis of that I recommended three directors and three deputy directors.
“The government of the day said it would not appoint anyone from inside. They went and brought someone who literally was fired from BPE and brought him back. That is the beginning. They discarded rules, doing things capriciously, promoting people three levels ahead and the institution has suffered from this since then,’’ he said.
The panel headed by Senator Ahmed Lawan, appealed to El-Rufai to prepare a memo that would guide the operations of BPE so that others could benefit from his experience.
On the sale of Daily Times, Chairman, DSV Ltd and Director of Daily Times of Nigeria (DTN) Plc, Senator Ikechukwu Obiora, said Folio Communications Ltd won the bid but due to lack of fund obtained a N750 million loan from the company.
According to him, the 96.05 per cent of the DTN shares was valued N1.25 billion was put up as loan in order to raise the fund.
The amount, he said, was used to execute the Deed of Debenture over the assets of DTN and obtained an investment of N500 million from DSV Ltd in exchange for approximately 40 per cent of the total shares of the newspaper.
The situation, however, spawned litigations at the end of which the court ordered the repayment of N950 million within 35 days of the date of judgment. He told the committee that contrary to the verdict, Folio Communications did not pay the said sum but rather claimed selling DTN’s interest at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Building for N900 million, of which N500 million was used to repay part of the loan.
Speaking on what he termed illegal and fraudulent asset-stripping, Obiora alleged that contrary to the expectations of the BPE and the government, Fidelis and Noel Anosike (the Anosike Brothers) used Folio Communications Ltd to penetrate DTN with the aim of ridding it of its assets and abandoning the company thereafter.
“As soon as they came into DTN, Fidelis Anosike, Noel Anosike and Folio connived with some other persons to illegally and fraudulently sell and transfer the interests of DTN in the Naira Properties Ltd, the owner of the NSE Building.”
He also accused the Anosikes of dismantling and selling off heavy and sophisticated machinery and equipment at its printing press in Agidingbi and that these sales were done in disobedience to a court order. Obiora also said block of flats were sold, put up for lease. “DTN’s property on 40/42, Imam Dauda Road, Surulere, was mortgaged to Afri-Invest as security for the same property – premises of DTN’s Times Institute of Journalism.”
Obiora emphasised the failure of BPE to effectively monitor the post-privatisation exercise of commercialised companies. “The BPE completely abdicated its obligations of supervising and monitoring the post-privatisation management of DTN for the first five years after takeover of the company.”
In his response, Fidelis Anosike said the company scored over 82 per cent of the technical bidding process, which positioned it above other bidders and was named the preferred winner.
Contrary to Obiora’s claim, Anosike said the financial bid of N1.25 billion was paid in full and a receipt issued by BPE on behalf of the government. Subsequent upon the take-over of the company by Folio Communications, he said there was no workable press inherited until a two-man Roland 42 Press was installed in 2007.
According to him, the new management put in place by the former managing director of the company, Mr. Adrian Wood, began publishing of Daily Times and Business Times while four zonal centres were created.
In addition, he said four modern printing plants were procured but were impounded at the ports by the investment partner (Obiora).
He stressed the company was beset with challenges emanating from litigations, adding that due to public harassment and incessant use of the National Assembly by Obiora, Afribank reneged on the agreement to finance part of their working capital.
Anosike suggested the withdrawal of the injunction and subsequent release of the newly acquired printing equipment. With the equipment, he pledged to ensure that the three locations designated for installation of the tools begin printing in three months.
Meanwhile, the BPE has denied media reports that it illegally sold the government’s five per cent shares in Eleme Petrochemical Company Limited (EPCL), Port Harcourt to Indorama for N4.375 billion.
In a statement, BPE spokesman, Mr. Chukwuma Nwoko, described the reports as “entirety false, uninformed, mischievous and grossly misleading.’’
He said: “It must be noted that as the Secretariat of the NCP, the BPE could not embark on the sale of any public enterprise without the approval of the NCP and the EPCL transaction cannot be different.
“It may be recalled that EPCL was about to embark on a multi-billion dollar expansion programme, and that the inherent threat of FGN’s five per cent shareholding being diluted as a result of recapitalisation, necessitated the decision by the Technical Committee of the NCP to negotiate the price for the sale of the shares, on the understanding that the approval of the Council would be obtained before closure of the transaction.
“A request for approval of the transaction was forwarded to the NCP and to its chairman, giving full details of the processes adopted, and informing both the NCP and its chairman that the sum of N4.375 billion had been placed in an escrow account, pending the final approval of the NCP.
“These actions were taken in the firm belief that they were in the best interest of the nation, in line with the Federal Government’s policy on privatisation, and for the benefit of the Nigerian people”, she said.
Guardian.
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