From Uche Usim, Abuja

Acting President, Profrossor Yemi Osinbajo, at the weekend revealed that the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) has since inception successfully concluded the privatisation and reform of over 142 public enterprises. 

He made the disclosure during the inauguration of the Fifth Council of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) since the enactment of the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act 1999. Osinbajo pointed out that the inauguration of the NCP is a critical step in the process of putting in place part of the institutional framework necessary for the actualisation of the socio-economic agenda of the administration.

 He added: “It is also a demonstration of our administration’s commitment to public sector reform and the central role of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) in this process.  Even though the public sector has been at the centre stage in the provision of critical infrastructure and services cutting across the whole spectrum of the nation’s life since independence, the emerging importance and centrality of the private sector to the actualisation of the economic agenda of the administration cannot be downplayed.”

The Acting President stated that apart from playing a dominant role of generating employment opportunities, the intervention of the private sector enhances the process of industrialisation, delivers critical infrastructure and services in the country. According to him, this role can only be unleashed when government’s role of regulating and creating an enabling environment is robustly undertaken.  “This will in turn offer the private sector the required comfort and assurance to make investments and expect a reasonable return thereon,” he said. 

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 He pledged the administration’s commitment to giving all the required support to the NCP in carrying out its statutory responsibilities. “In return, the government expects the NCP to come up with creative out-of-the box solutions for addressing the numerous challenges facing the privatisation and commercialisation programme such as non-performance by some privatised enterprises and post-privatisation challenges facing some of the privatised enterprises.” The Acting President noted that government also expects the NCP to make measurable progress in respect of the outstanding transactions affecting some of the areas critical to the economic recovery of the nation.

“You must make deliberate and conscious efforts to learn from past experiences and guard against avoidable mistakes of the past,” he said.

The Acting President explained that over the years, the NCP had concluded significant transactions and carried out economic reform activities in key sectors of the economy such as telecommunications, pension management, ports, power, etc.

“A mega reform process in the power sector is ongoing with ambitious expectations. Although there are numerous challenges trailing the process, the NCP is expected to critically analyse these challenges and come up with sustainable solutions as part of government commitment to make power available at accelerated rates and to wide sections of the populace,” he said.

In his remarks, the Director General of Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex Okoh, noted that recently a trend has emerged where certain institutions engage in activities which are tending to compromise and conflict with the statutory functions of the Bureau.