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FG set to hand over ALSCON to BFI Group

By on January 23, 2013

Mr. Musa Sada

After the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the BFI Group, the Nigerian-American consortium, the Federal government has started processing documents to handover the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON) to the BFI Group.

The Supreme Court ruled on the July 6, 2012, that the disqualified Nigerian-American consortium that emerged the preferred bidder for ALSCON in 2004 should be retained as the valid winner of the bid.

The court ordered BPE to work with the $410m, which was to be paid by the preferred bidder instead of the $250m offer accepted from RUSAL, the Russian company.

The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mr. Musa Sada, after the inaugural meeting of the National Council on Privatisation for the year, said they had discussed at length to ascertain that ALSCON works ahead without undue pressure.

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Sada said, “On the recent Supreme Court judgement on ALSCON, which asked us to do certain things; today, we were able to discuss the draft agreement with the new company that obtained the Supreme Court judgment on it, and what we are trying to do is to come up with an agreement putting into considerations what we learnt from the previous agreement that was signed with the other company.

“It was a very detailed agreement taking care and making sure that going forward; the company (ALSCON) will not suffer undue issue that will make it have problems to be solved.

“The whole essence as discussed in today’s meeting is that privatisation is to make sure that the facility works better and in almost all the discussion, this was brought forward that this present council will concentrate on making sure that whatever agreement is entered into, we have learnt from previous issues and problems that arose from the earlier agreement entered into.

“Members of the council deliberated in depth on the agreement and raised vital observations, some of them needing further clarification and some needing adjustment to make sure that the right statement is made and the Supreme Court judgement is respected and implemented as directed.”

NCP again communicated that January 31, 2013 was the deadline for the expression of interest in the Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company and the Afam Generating Company.

This was communicated by the Chairman, Technical Committee, NCP, Mr. Atedo Peterside who spoke to journalists at the end of the meeting.

Minister of State for Trade and Investment, Dr. Samuel Ortom, Acting Director-General, BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki and Sada also briefed Journalists at the end of the meeting.

Peterside said, “We have called for expressions of interest by all pre-qualified bidders that are eligible to indicate by January 31. By close of business at 5pm on that date, we will know the number of those interested in each company and those are the ones we will give transaction table, after which they will be invited to come and bid,”

Ortom said, “Today, again we had approval from the council to implement the report of the vice president on the Tafawa Balewa Square and Trade Fair Complex. There were issues that were hindering the smooth operations of these two agencies that were given out on concession to the private sector. In addition, the VP set up a committee, which is made up of the Ministry of Trade and Investment, the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission and BPE.

“We looked at all the issues and took far-reaching decisions and recommended them to the NCP, and the NCP graciously gave approval for the implementation.

“So, we are going to implement that, and in the next few weeks, we are going to start action; this, we believe, will go a long way in re-positioning these two agencies to operate smoothly.”