NITEL was sold to Natcom Telecommunications for $252 million in 2014 by the previous government, led by then president Goodluck Jonathan.
The deal was completed in April 2015 amid allegations that NITEL was deliberately to allow members of Jonathan’s government to purchase the assets at a discounted price.
According to a statement, Buhari said he was concerned by the protests of NITEL employees about the process in which the assets of the company were sold.
“The president is concerned about the liquidation of NITEL," the country’s permanent secretary Dr. Tunji Olaopa said at a briefing.
"He is not opposed to its privatisation but he wants to know and he wants us to bring a memo on how the whole transaction was undertaken so that he would know whether Nigeria was shortchanged or not."
