LAGOS – National Union of Posts and Telecommunication Employees (NUPTE) President Sunday Alhassan has called for collaboration between the union and buyer of the Nigeria Telecommunication (NITEL) to revive it.
In an interview with newsmen in Lagos, he recalled that the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) approved the sale of NITEL and its subsidiary, Mtel to NATCOM Consortium for 252 million dollars.
Alhassan expressed belief that the management of NATCOM Consortium should use the platform of the union to realise its goal of reviving NITEL.
“We expect that the new buyer will do the best it can to see that they give services to Nigerian people.
“The manpower that NITEL had before is actually going to be the people that the buyer will need to work on.
“The new buyer needs to see how to re-engage them to be able to assist in moving the place forward,’’ he said.
The NUPTE boss, nonetheless, insisted that the union had not, at any time, supported the sale of the organisation.
He observed that government should have a national carrier, which NITEL could represent to compete with other telecom organisations in the country.