BPE: Most Nigerians Have Bad Impression of Privatisation of Public Utilities

Chineme Okafor

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) yesterday said most Nigerians have erroneous impression of the federal government’s privatisation programme, adding that a good percentage of about 140 government’s companies that have been privatised in the last 30 years were doing well.

The Director General of the BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, stated this at the formal inauguration of the Stakeholders Engagement Committee ( SEC) of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) by the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Lai Mohammed, in Abuja.

A statement from the Head of Public Communications at the BPE, Amina Othman, said apart from Okoh’s claims, Mohammed also stated that the government of President Muhammadu Buhari, was open to private sector operators and has remained keen on providing them the enabling environment to participate in developing Nigeria’s economy.

Okoh called on the committee to correct the erroneous impression that privatisation has been unmindful of the interests of the Nigerian public.

He urged the SEC to reverse this reported misconception on privatisation by Nigerians through robust stakeholder engagement.

He equally asked the committee, “to help harmonise the public enterprise reform agenda under the supervision of the NCP, whilst also promoting a favourable perception and application of the privatisation programme in the mind of the public as well as local and international investors.”

According to him, the benefits of privatisation have not been universally acknowledged or appreciated in Nigeria. He added that it is believed that privatised enterprises may have been sold for far less than their actual market value and that the enterprises may be under performing.

Okoh however, stated that in 30 years since the country embarked on reform of its public enterprises, a high percentage of the 140 privatised public enterprises across the various sectors of the economy have achieved a good level of performance.

“It can thus be seen that there is something of a mismatch between public perception of privatisation and the reality of its value and contribution to the economy. Accordingly, the importance of an effective stakeholder engagement strategy cannot be overemphasised.

“There is a clear and present need to build support and understanding for the federal government’s reform agenda by effectively communicating the considerable benefits of privatisation,” he stated.

Mohammed on his part, noted that the constitution of the committee was an opportunity for the government to enforce its integrity by ensuring that privatisation in the country was carried out transparently.

The statement equally noted that Mohammed who was appointed the chairman of the committee, charged them to identify and maintain contacts with the various stakeholders and opinion leaders to be able to advise the NCP on concerns and interests raised about the country’s privatisation programme. Therefore, the cost is higher than what they are selling at the filling station and they need more money. When there was no cost recovery, the NNPC clearly gave us the number of 33 and 35 million litres per day as the consumption of Nigeria. But now that with the new regime of cost recovery, NNPC is claiming daily consumption of 60 and 65 million liters per day which we rejected and said no.

“So, many of our international partners are saying that even if we are feeding Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and Niger, we cannot consume more than 35 million litres per day. So, we are wondering where the 60 million litres is coming from. So, we are trying to sort that one out, that one is not yet resolved.

“But, we are now taking a very hard decision, that because NNPC said the reason why they were lifting 60 million per day is because our borders are porous. So we have taken the decision that any filling station that is 10 kilometres on the border side should be closed by DPR. And, then we will do recertification according to the needs.

“Secondly, we have directed the Minister of Finance in collaboration with the DPR and the NNPC to our tracking devices on every truck in other to monitor where they are discharging the fuel.

“Because, we are suspicious of the number, we cannot confirm the difference from 30 million litres per day consumption to 60 and 65 million litres per day consumption. So, these are our decisions on the NNPC,” he said.