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B N W: Biafra Nigeria World News |
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Odua firm may go public soon
OWNERS of the ailing Odua Investment Company have decided to privatise it to put it back on course.
This was disclosed yesterday in Ibadan by its board chairman, Chief Iyabo Apanpa.
The board maintained that to make the indigenous firm meet future challenges it had to be privatised.
Chief Apanpa told journalists yesterday that the privatisation exercise became necessary to allow core investors fund the company and put it on a strong financial footing.
As part of the steps in this direction, Apanpa pointed out that the organisation would embark on a staff rationalisation exercise. This, she said, would ensure greater efficiency in the board's attempt to privatise it.
"There is a lot to be done in Odua, though many have been done by our predecessors. We are prepared to take Odua to greater heights so efforts are on to privatise the conglomerate. We are set to reposition Odua, we want core investors to come into the company," she said.
While ruling out any political motive for the planned privatisation of the conglomerate, Mrs. Apanpa explained that the move became necessary for the company to perform better.
Though she debunked claim that the company has started laying off some of its workers, the Odua boss stated that a rationalisation exercise would commence as soon as the firm is set to restructure.
"There is a recess in the economy of the world and we are part of it, staff rationalisation is a must during privatisation, Apanpa stressed.
On Oduatel, the rural telephony system of the conglomerate, the chairman revealed that by the end of October, 15,000 lines attached to the base station would be available for use, adding that over 4.5 billion had been expended on the project so far. Apampa also shed more light on the conglomerate's proposed rail transport system, saying the project was to be taken over by the government of Oyo and Ogun states as Odua could not fund the project at the moment.
Odua Investment Company is a conglomerate jointly owned by the governments of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo and Ekiti.
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