PRESIDENT Goodluck Jonathan yesterday inaugurated the reconstituted board of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), regretting that privatisation in Nigeria had not lived up to its billing as the answer to ailing state enterprises.
Stating that the privatised firms had not been as “successful as Nigerians expected,” President Jonathan noted the privatised firms were not doing very well.
The new council, which is in consonance with the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) Act of 1999 as amended, has Vice President Namadi Sambo as chairman. Other statutory members include the Minister of Finance (vice chairman); Attorney Generation of the Federation and Minister of Justice; Ministers of Trade and National Planning; Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters; President of the Nigeria Labour
Congress; Chairman of NACCIMA and Mrs. Bola Onagoruwa, Director General of BPE who is also the Secretary.
Jonathan charged the NCP to address “the whole concept of privatisation which started a long time ago. The Federal Government delegated some of its responsibilities to the private sector over the period. We believe the private sector will handle things better than the public sector.
“But the whole story about privatisation has not been as successful as Nigerians expect it to be. The feeling is that a number of enterprises that have been privatised by the Federal Government are not doing too well.
“So, these are the kinds of areas the new council members should address their minds to, the ones that have been done and the new ones that are yet to be done.
“In any agreement or arrangement you will have with the private sector that will take over assets of government, we must make sure that we build monitoring into it and there has to be some sanctions. The idea of privatising government assets is to make sure that they are better managed to create jobs and wealth for our people.
“Because if enterprises have been privatised and over the period, some of them over 10 years, they are still dead, probably people who bought them never knew the kind of business they were going in for. Or probably on our own part, we did not give enough protection to the whole transaction. Because government spent so much money to set up these enterprises, the idea is not just to make money but to also create wealth and jobs for Nigerians. By privatising these enterprises, we expect that the core interest of government of creating wealth and jobs must endure.”
Sambo assured that the “new council will do exactly as you have directed. We will think more, we will do more to ensure that these enterprise that have been privatised work and create jobs for Nigerians.”
Sambo stated that because of the importance the council attached to achieving its objectives, it would meet on a monthly basis.
Only last month the Senate set up a seven-man ad hoc committee to carry out an inquest into the alleged lopsidedness in the privatisation of the Federal Government since its inception in 1999.
Members of the committee that will conduct the investigation are Ahmed Lawan (Chairman), Babafemi Ojudu, Mohammed Ndume, Philip Adudah, Ifeanyi Akowa, Hope Uzodimma and Mohammed Magoro. They were given four weeks to submit their report.
Moving a motion titled “Collapse of some privatised Federal Government companies in Nigeria,” Senator Ahmed Lawan, (All Nigeria Peoples Party) representing Yobe North Senatorial District in Yobe State averred that the essence of the privatisation was to allow government divest from provision of services rendered by some agencies and concentrate on the provision of an enabling atmosphere.
He added that by doing so, it was expected that there would be efficiency and effectiveness but regretted that such had not been the case with most of the privatised agencies. According to him, the exercise, instead, brought job loss and colossal economic waste.
Addressing committee members, the Senate President, David Mark, urged them to be above board and open-minded in the discharge of their duties, stressing that the exercise was not aimed at witch-hunting the BPE.
“Let me quickly add that we should approach this exercise with an open mind. There should be no witch-hunting. We are not in any way going with a view to saying that this is the answer that we would arrive at because the Bureau would have done a few good things, they would have done a few bad things, nobody knows. With the best of our abilities, we should approach it with an open hand, no playing to the gallery in this exercise. Let us do a thorough job so that when the findings are brought here, people will appreciate the fact that people, who are put in the committee, have done a thorough work,” he said.
Stating that the privatised firms had not been as “successful as Nigerians expected,” President Jonathan noted the privatised firms were not doing very well.
The new council, which is in consonance with the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) Act of 1999 as amended, has Vice President Namadi Sambo as chairman. Other statutory members include the Minister of Finance (vice chairman); Attorney Generation of the Federation and Minister of Justice; Ministers of Trade and National Planning; Secretary to the Government of the Federation; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN); Special Adviser to the President on Economic Matters; President of the Nigeria Labour
Congress; Chairman of NACCIMA and Mrs. Bola Onagoruwa, Director General of BPE who is also the Secretary.
Jonathan charged the NCP to address “the whole concept of privatisation which started a long time ago. The Federal Government delegated some of its responsibilities to the private sector over the period. We believe the private sector will handle things better than the public sector.
“But the whole story about privatisation has not been as successful as Nigerians expect it to be. The feeling is that a number of enterprises that have been privatised by the Federal Government are not doing too well.
“So, these are the kinds of areas the new council members should address their minds to, the ones that have been done and the new ones that are yet to be done.
“In any agreement or arrangement you will have with the private sector that will take over assets of government, we must make sure that we build monitoring into it and there has to be some sanctions. The idea of privatising government assets is to make sure that they are better managed to create jobs and wealth for our people.
“Because if enterprises have been privatised and over the period, some of them over 10 years, they are still dead, probably people who bought them never knew the kind of business they were going in for. Or probably on our own part, we did not give enough protection to the whole transaction. Because government spent so much money to set up these enterprises, the idea is not just to make money but to also create wealth and jobs for Nigerians. By privatising these enterprises, we expect that the core interest of government of creating wealth and jobs must endure.”
Sambo assured that the “new council will do exactly as you have directed. We will think more, we will do more to ensure that these enterprise that have been privatised work and create jobs for Nigerians.”
Sambo stated that because of the importance the council attached to achieving its objectives, it would meet on a monthly basis.
Only last month the Senate set up a seven-man ad hoc committee to carry out an inquest into the alleged lopsidedness in the privatisation of the Federal Government since its inception in 1999.
Members of the committee that will conduct the investigation are Ahmed Lawan (Chairman), Babafemi Ojudu, Mohammed Ndume, Philip Adudah, Ifeanyi Akowa, Hope Uzodimma and Mohammed Magoro. They were given four weeks to submit their report.
Moving a motion titled “Collapse of some privatised Federal Government companies in Nigeria,” Senator Ahmed Lawan, (All Nigeria Peoples Party) representing Yobe North Senatorial District in Yobe State averred that the essence of the privatisation was to allow government divest from provision of services rendered by some agencies and concentrate on the provision of an enabling atmosphere.
He added that by doing so, it was expected that there would be efficiency and effectiveness but regretted that such had not been the case with most of the privatised agencies. According to him, the exercise, instead, brought job loss and colossal economic waste.
Addressing committee members, the Senate President, David Mark, urged them to be above board and open-minded in the discharge of their duties, stressing that the exercise was not aimed at witch-hunting the BPE.
“Let me quickly add that we should approach this exercise with an open mind. There should be no witch-hunting. We are not in any way going with a view to saying that this is the answer that we would arrive at because the Bureau would have done a few good things, they would have done a few bad things, nobody knows. With the best of our abilities, we should approach it with an open hand, no playing to the gallery in this exercise. Let us do a thorough job so that when the findings are brought here, people will appreciate the fact that people, who are put in the committee, have done a thorough work,” he said.
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