Nigeria has raised about N130 billion through privatization and uptimatimisation of some national assets through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in the last four years, according to the bureau chief, Mr Alex Okoh.
Mr Okoh, who is the director-general of the assets privatization agency with the mandate to also ensure savings for the government through sector reforms, said the sector reforms that have been carried out by his office, “apart from making life a lot easier for the citizens, also serve to conserve funds for the Federal Government because ordinarily there would have been subvension paid out to those assets and enterprises that have been reformed to be more commercial in their operations,” during an interview with journalists in Abuja yesterday.
Okoh cited the Nigerian Postal Service (NIPOST) as an instance of some of the agencies of government that have been unbundled. He said NIPOST properties are now a separate entity from the postal service, the same way NIPOST transport and logistics have also become a separate entity, saying these two entities will become operational from the first of January 2023.
“We just concluded the recruitment of the management staff of those two entities. They will become operational from the first of January next year,” he said, adding that “the implication of that is that the subvention from the fiscal purse that would have been going to the Service will no longer go there, and that is savings on the part of government.”
Nigeria started the privatization of some national assets including the power sector but has failed to record significant improvement despite private sector involvement due to ineffective regulatory procedures.
He said he is optimistic that the BPE will exceed the N260 billion projection in the 2023 budget with the completion of the sale of five National Independent Power Plants (NIPPs).
“We are reaching some understanding with the state governments for the sale of five power plants, that is what has dragged this transaction for the past two years,” he said, adding, “Thankfully as at last week we were able to resolve with the governors. So, for those assets we are likely to reach financial opening of the bids before this year runs out but the proceeds itself will come in the first quarter of next year.
“So, we actually project that in the first quarter of next year, that is by March, we would be able to exceed the expectations of the budget for N260 billion.
“Let me also add that from the projected sum from the sale of the assets the portion that actually becomes available for the funding of the Federal Government is 47 percent, 53 percent goes to the states because the assets are not federal assets but federation assets,” he said during the interview at his Abuja office.
