Nigeria succumbs to IMF, targets $17bn from nat’l assets sale

There is now every indication that Nigeria has accepted to divest Federal Government equity holdings and shares in most national assets as it has targeted raking in about $16.5billion from the sales.

A machinery to that effect has been set in motion following acceptance of an ad-hoc committee by the Presidency to look into the possibilities of selling some percentage of government interests in the national assets, of which the NLNG and the refineries are among.

Though a document from the Ministry of Finance on Tuesday failed to link the move to IMF’s earlier condition that Nigeria should sell those assets, the document states that the sale will help in “promoting efficiency in the system in addition to fighting corruption in public enterprises.”

It was learnt that the difficulty facing government officials on how to source money for the 2017 budget made the acceptance of the committee’s report imperative.

No government official would offer comment on this, as they claimed that discussion was still on going on the mater.

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One under condition of anonymity however offered that even if the sales were to hold, it would require the presence of President Muhammadu Buhari to ascertain the modalities for the exercise.

The source said even the President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki, had recently called for the sale of some national assets so long as the proceeds would be used for capital projects.

Also supporting the sale, he said, were the Emir of Kano, Alhaji Muhammadu Sanusi, as well as other known investors.

But the organised labour, comprising the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) Trade Union Congress of Nigeria (TUC) and the Nigeria Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers (NUPENG) kicked against the move, warning the Federal Government to reject the recommendations to sell the country’s assets.

The groups described the advice given by the committee as self serving, promising to resist any move geared at motgaging the future of the upcoming ones, which acceptance of such report entails.

“Let those behind this idea take a look at privatisation as it affects PHCN, the ports and steel industries, let them tell us what difference it has made in the agonies that Nigerians are passing through,” said of Mr. Salao Oyekan of TUC, Lagos.

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