Chinese telecommunications company and fast-growing mobile phone handset maker Huawei said that it had planned to make a $627 million investment into the now-defunct Nigerian telecommunications company, Nitel.
Nitel’s former COO Nicholas Okoye said that “had the corporation not had to contend with sabotage by politicians and ridiculous litigations by state governments, which sued Nitel’s new owners Transcorp for Nitel’s taxes dating as far back as 30 years, it would have been profitable.”
The Chinese company has been making massive strides into the African continent, offering its cheaper smartphones for customers across the region in an effort to bolster overall mobile phone growth.
The company has also expressed large interest in investing in operators, especially those such as Nitel that were facing bankruptcy and an uncertain future. But the political meandering of the situation in Nigeria ultimately let to the closing of the state-owned company.
Okoye confirmed the Huawei interest by saying his office had received an official letter from the Chinese firm.
He said this agreement had “come as a result of his committee’s meetings with the management of Huawei.”
David Eto
