NigComSat managing director joins NITEL Board

In fulfillment of its recent agreement with the government of Nigeria, the management of Nigerian Telecommunications (NITEL) has announced the inclusion of Timasaniyu Ahmed-Rufai, managing director of Nigeria Communications Satellite (NigComSat), as a non-executive director and member of its board of directors.

NigComSat's representation on the NITEL board marks the beginning of a rewarding partnership that will benefit both organizations and their customers, said Tom Iseghohi, chairman of the NITEL Board of Directors, in a statement.

"We are particularly pleased with his training, wealth of experience and the capacity of the company he represents, which we are certain will further enhance our repositioning exercise to make NITEL more successful and better disposed to offer enhanced quality service delivery to all its customers," he said of Ahmed-Rufai.

"A combination of satellite transmission capacity of NigComSat and the SAT-3 capacity of NITEL could only beget affordable broadband service delivery to Internet Service Providers, private telecommunications operators and other end users," Iseghohi added.

The Nigerian government recently announced that it is relinquishing a 15 percent stake NITEL and its seat on the Board of Directors under a private equity transfer arrangement.

Under the new arrangement, the federal government has a 34 percent stake in NITEL, while Transnational Corporation holds 51 percent, pending the finalization of the current search for a core investor.