Falana-led coalition wants Senate to investigate Nigeria’s privitisation programmes

The Alliance for Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), a civil society coalition, has tasked the Senate over the institution of an agency towards ensuring investigations of privatisation programmes carried out in the country.

This was contained in a letter written to the Senate President and signed by the ASCAB spokesperson, Femi Falana, on Wednesday.

ASCAB further implored the Senate to mount pressure on the executive to act on its report on Nigeria’s past privatisation programmes.

In 2011, the Senate had set up a committee to investigate the privatisation and commercialisation activities of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) from 1999 to 2011.

The committee, which was chaired by Lawan, had said it found sharp practices in the exercise, ranging from alleged fraud and abuse of power.

It had as a result urged the government to reverse some of the privatisation programmes, the coalition noted in its letter.

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Falana also stated that the lawmakers should “enact an Act to facilitate the establishment of a body that would actualise the reversal of all past privatizations which your (Lawan’s) committee found were characterised by abuses, illegality and fraud.”

“ASCAB is committed to partnering with the Senate in popularising the findings of your committee and putting public pressure on the executive arm of government to implement the Recommendations of your committee.

“We look forward to a collaborative campaign that would lead to a reversal of the dispossession of the public and the taking back from the private sector of the resources that have been fraudulently transferred to private individuals and/or their companies,” Falana said.

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