From Kenneth Udeh, Abuja
The Presidency and the National Assembly have identified “power balancing” between both arms of Government as a key tool that will ensure that dormant public enterprises in the country become optimised.
This was agreed upon in Akwa-Ibom during a retreat organised by the National Council on Privatisation and Bureau of Public Enterprises for the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation chaired by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu.
During the meeting, members of the National Assembly led by Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and the members of the Presidential Executive Council concurred that for public assets in the country to be optimised to full capacity both arms of Government must find a balance in power amid the power tussle which usually exists between them.
To achieve this, Acting Director General of the BPE, Mr Ignatius Ayewoh, stated that the Senate needs to: Revisit the BPA Bill as a foundation to PEICC Act, adequately support budgetary allocation, support all transactions and position BPE for pivotal roles in the new entity Public Enterprises and Infrastructural Concession Commission, PEICC.
Ayewoh noted that there is massive financial pressure on the government to provide infrastructure and service existing public assets, which requires the BPE to attract private investments.
He said: “The government cannot provide the resources required to meet all of its obligations and bridge the huge infrastructure gap. The most feasible option is to attract private sector investments.
Chairman of the committee, Orji Kalu, canvassed for the commercialisation of public assets and the implementation of mortgage capital system to afford individuals and entities the opportunity to acquire redundant assets with a longterm repayment plan.
“A lot of assets are wasting in our countries, properties are paid by cash in Abuja and Lagos when people could have freed that capital and Channel it to other investments.
“There are lots of capital sitting idle all over the place but we need to free those capital but we keep crying that we are poor but we are not poor.
The Abia North lawmaker urged the Federal government to take unusual steps to solve the nation’s current economic crisis. He urged the Tinubu-led administration to take bold steps by allowing the commercialisation of assets.
He said: “Tinubu has made a very strong commitment to the Nigerian people. The Federal government needs to do things that are unusual in order to bring Nigerians out of where we are in today. It was not caused by the present administration; these are problems that have been here for decades.
“People refuse to take a stand. Economy is very bad, people are suffering, I plead with Nigerians it is not easy what the country is going through. This problem has been here since 1960. The decision makers are refusing to know that we should commercialize all our properties and the government should have no hand in business.”
Deputy Chief of Staff to the President, Senator Ibrahim Hassan Hadejia, admitted though the executive usually interfere in determining the leadership of the National Assembly there is a need for amongst the two so that the legislature can carry out their oversight functions.
Ibrahim highlighted the causes of power tussle between the two arms of government he stated;
“The executive of course have an interest in determining or not determining having an influence of who becomes the leader of the National Assembly.
“One of the causes of these contentious issues is of course the budget . It’s actually an executive bill but the legislature has the absolute power to amend and that is really a very serious area of conflict sometimes.
“Another area is the area of constituency projects and legislatures have an interest and have a right to say let’s dedicate some funding to some capital projects in their constituency because the thinking is that they are related with people and they are elected.
Hadejia also mentioned the “Oversight function” as an extension of the appropriation function of the National Assembly. He said “ work starts from the day you pass the budget to ensure that that budget is implemented according to the appropriation act. But most people think that the legislature is harassing government agencies, and most of these agencies implement this budget in a breach.
“Another cause is the “Protocol Act”, President Obasanjo refused to pass the law but it was vetoed and passed by the National Assembly. In a typical official setting when listing out protocol we have the President, Vice President, Senate President , Speaker and the SGF looks like number five but it will shock you that the SGF is on number 22 in the law and Ministers are almost number 13. “If you take out harmony, it’s the country that suffers’’.
The issue of Governors disregard for state Assemblies was raised by Senator Abba Moro who accused Governors of spending state resources without regard for their Commissioners and approvals of their state legislators.
“We have governors who don’t regard their Commissioners. My Governor awards contracts in Billions that are not appropriated by the state assembly. It is worse when a former legislature becomes a governor and you wonder why, we have to find a common ground.
To curb the menace the Benue South Senator suggested that under normal circumstances the three arms of Government are supposed to complement each other.
“For the good of Nigeria we must of necessity find a common ground,” Moro stated.
Sadie Wanka SSA to the President stated that infrastructure development can be achieved through private sector participation which will in turn attract foreign direct investments in Nigeria’s inflationary economy.
He said, “There is a realization that the private sector has an increasingly important role to play in conceptualizing, developing, operating and financing the infrastructure deficit in the country.
“The current exchange rate, the entire capital expenditure budget of the Federal Government in the 2024 Appropriation Act is around $6.5bn dollars.
“At 50% historical budget performance, we quickly see how inadequate government expenditure is for infrastructure. Public-private partnerships are an important arrangement to get the private sector to participate in infrastructure projects.
SSA to the Vice President, Dr. Tope Fasua highlighted the efforts of President Tinubu’s renewed hope agenda in making public assets more viable and productive.