Why we’re privatising river basins — Minister

The Minister of Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Adamu, has said the need to reform the nation’s River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) is to seek alternative sources of funding to shore-up their revenue base and make them self-reliant.

Adamu, according to a statement by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), said this when he declared open a three-day business implementation training on the partial commercialisation of four pilot River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) in Abuja.

Adamu noted that the Federal Government was not unaware of the challenges facing the RBDAS.

He reiterated that the reform of the RBDAs was not privatisation but partial commercialisation to make them economically viable, self-reliant and sustainable even as he assured of no job losses.

The Minister commended the BPE and the Transaction Adviser for organising the training aimed at building requisite capacity for the RBDAs staff and other relevant actors towards a successful Commercialisation of the pilot projects.

In his remark, the Director General of the BPE, Mr. Alex A. Okoh reiterated the Federal Government’s unwavering commitment to the promotion of private sector participation in the operation, management and maintenance of the RBDAs without divesting its shares.

It would be recalled that the Federal Ministry of Water Resources in collaboration with the BPE have selected OgunOsun RBDA, Upper-Niger RBDA, Sokoto-Rima Basin RBDA and Niger-Delta RBDA for phased pilot partial commercialisation.