The Federal Government may have lost over N4 billion in the controversial sale of Skypower Aviation Handling Company Limited (SAHCOL), it was learnt at the weekend.

The transaction is likely to be completed this week by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), if the sale is ratified by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).

Erascom Consortium (the preferred bidder) was said to have put in a bid of N3.billion and Pan Express Consortium (the reserved bidder) N11.4billion but Cifax, which bid N5.5 billion won.

Erascom Consortium and Pan Express Consortium may have each forfeited the N30 million non-refundable bid bonds they paid due to the refusal of BPE to grant them the 20 per cent discount they requested for.

A member of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, who asked not to be named, said the "committee was amazed to discover that the preferred and reserved bidders were refused a 20 percent discount which they requested to enable them pay.

The lawmaker said that allowing the preferred and reserved bidders 20 per cent discount would have put the going price of SAHCOL at over N9 billion instead of the N5.5billion at which BPE sold the company.

The likely loss of over N4billion in the SAHCOL transaction came on the heels of the revelation by the BPE Director-General, Dr. Christopher Anyanwu, that the privatisation process had recorded N92 billion shortfall.

Anyanwu told bewildered House of Representatives members last week at an interactive meeting that the BPE had only received N8billion of the N100 billion privatisation proceeds President Umaru Yar’Adua estimated as part of the revenue to fund the 2009 budget deficit.

Major part of the estimated N100 billion was expected to be realised from the privatisation of the refineries.

But Anyanwu claimed that the privatisation of the refineries has not materialised due to non-performance by the core investors.

He blamed the cancellation of the sale of NITEL on the ground of non- performance by the core investors the shortfall in the expected revenue. But the source said that unwholesome dealing might not be ruled out in the SAHCOL sale.

The committee has launched an enquiry into the sale of the national cargo handling company with a view to identifying whether due process was followed in the transaction or not.

Last week, the committee directed BPE to furnish it with the post- privatisation monitoring report of the performance of all privatised companies within two weeks.

The BPE is also being questioned on the $120 million Imo River dredging channel escrow account as well as the interest that might have accrued on the money which was deposited in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in 2006.

The House committee wanted clarification on whether the interest accruing from the deposit of $120 million for about three years had been remitted into the CBN privatisation account or not.

In all, 159 public enterprises, including those in the automobile sector, agro-allied (fertiliser companies), oil marketing companies, oil services companies, banks, cement companies and steel rolling mills, have been privatised by the BPE since the exercise began.

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