Nigeria has earned at least N1 trillion as proceeds of privatisation and commercialisation of government-owned enterprises by the defunct Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC) and its successor, National Council on Privatisation (NCP).
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed this at the inauguration of the members of the reconstituted NCP in Abuja.
This is even as stakeholders have charged the new NCP members to show transparency and patriotism in the discharge of their duties.
Osinbajo who is also the chairman of the council, revealed that since the inception of the NCP and its precursor (Technical Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation (TCPC), it has realised about N1 trillion in proceeds for the federal purse, arising from completed transactions and reforms that have contributed significantly to the country’s overall economic development.
He tasked members to tackle new transactions and reform activities of the Federal Government as well as resolve some of the thorny economic issues that are critical to the country’s accelerated economic development.
The Vice president listed some of the thorny economic issues that needs to be addressed urgently to include, addressing the current and emerging challenges in the reform of the National Electric Power Industry (NESI); continuation of the reform in the River Basin Development Authorities and National Parks sub-sector; reform of the transport sector; commercialisation of enterprises in the communications and media sector; and robust monitoring of privatised enterprises among others.
“We are required to take appropriate steps to ensure that the interests of the various segments of our society, particularly the ordinary citizens, are protected in the implementation of the reform programme,” the vice president said.
He said that the inauguration marks another milestone in this administration’s drive towards economic rejuvenation and liberalisation as the pathway to unleashing the immense potential of Nigeria’s economy.
Meanwhile some stakeholders have charged the new NCP team to ensure transparency and patriotism in the discharge of their responsibilities.
Professor Mohammed Mainoma, former Vice Chancellor, Nasarawa State University, advised the members to focus on making government companies that are not working functional.
Mainoma said: “The idea should be to capitalise these enterprises and hand them over to the private sector to run them professionally for the government and this they must do transparently.”
For the National President, All Farmers Association of Nigeria (AFAN), Kabir Ibrahim, “It is a welcome development that the government has decided to reconstitute the NCP. I want the members to understand that the failure of the DisCos is not unconnected to the secrecy and lack of transparency in the privatization of the power sector.”
He said if things are done transparently and on merit Nigeria will be better off for it. “The newly inaugurated council should apply due diligence and transparency in privatizing government holdings,” he said, adding “Bad politics and downright red tapism as well as corruption make all efforts like the privatization exercise fail instead of ushering economic growth and national prosperity.”
On his part, Dr. Kachi Ononuju, a political economist, said it makes no sense advising this government because it lacked the capacity to do anything.
According to him, for failing to muster the political will to implement the removal of fuel subsidy, widely believed to be a drain on the nation’s economy, the President has nothing to offer Nigerians.
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