Kunle Aderinokun
1 July 2009
Abuja — Financial bid opening held yesterday in the Federal Government's attempt to sell its 100 per cent stake in Skypower Aviation Handling Company (SAHCOL), was inconclusive.
This was because Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) did not declare Eraskorp Consortium preferred bidder, despite its N13.45 billion offer to buy the moribund handling company.
This happened on a day BPE said it has decided to revisit cases of privatised state enterprises that have been posting losses in the last five years.At the financial bid opening for SAHCOL yesterday, at Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, Director General of BPE, Dr Christopher Anyanwu, said the technical committee would meet with members of the bidding consortia, to determine the realistic nature of bids presented.
Eraskorp Consortium offered N13.45bn in the second round of the financial bid, to upstage Pan Express Services Limited, which offered N10.4billion.Other bidders included Skyway Aviation Handling Company Ltd, which offered N9.19billion; Tak Continental Ltd, which offered N7.78billion and Moore Associates Ltd, that offered N6.2billion.
But this was not before all the five bidders had raised their bids significantly to the surprise of all present, especially members of the NCP. Eraskorp had led others with its proposal of only N500 million in the first round.Admitting that the bids submitted by the firms surpassed figures of the reserved price for SAHCOL, Anyanwu said NCP would wish to tread cautiously, so as not to fall into a situation whereby bidders would desperately announce unrealistic bid just to outdo others and later fail to meet payment deadline.
However, Anyanwu said the decision of the Bureau to look into some of the privatised companies stemmed from government experience with some foreign companies, which had taken advantages of loopholes in the nation's economic system and bought into public firms, only to be declaring loses on yearly basis.
He appealed to Nigerians to allow privatisation of state enterprises that have been identified, adding that not all companies were like the Nigerian Telecommunications Ltd (NITEL), whose privatisation process has failed several times.
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