Business
Tension as FG plans revisiting concessioned enterprises
Uneasy calm has gripped buyers of some public corporations in Nigeria, as government fine tunes plans for a holistic review of most of the public enterprises sold to private firms.
Between 2000 and 2013, more than 50 public enterprises were sold through concession bids, which saw government dislodging its equities in nearly all sectors except oil and gas.
Covered by the deals, supervised by the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) included the Nigerian ports, hospitality and tourism, steel, and a part of the aviation industry.
The programme failed in some sectors, including works and housing, real estate as well as the railways, though it raked in more than $60 billion to the government.
But with its economy steadily going down the drain, Nigeria has started the process of reviewing all economic policies, majorly beaming a searchlight into the methods and quality of agreement entered into for the various outfits to be sold.
Read also: Govt to hands off railway, Osinbajo unveils concession committee
This is to be handled by the Presidential Council to be made up of inter-ministerial representatives, which will work with the National Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) to also look into why foreign investors are dragging their feet in returning to Nigeria, said a source.
Making reference to this, the Minister of Trade, Industry and Investment, Mr. Okechuku Enelama, said government was following the guidelines of all its policies in all sectors, aimed at further diversifying the economy, with reference to what has been done before now.
But investment lawyers have said that any attempt at reversing what had been done, as regards the concessional agreements, will amount to having both the local and international investors not taking Nigeria serious.
“There could be the need to revisit the concessioned enterprises, which are not performing, but to revisit all of them will amount to sending the country’s good name backward,” said Mr. Ben Odunyi, a legal practitioner.
By Emma Eke
RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears
Join the conversation
Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism
Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.
As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.
If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.
Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.
INVESTIGATION: In Kwara, multimillion-naira milk processing plant is abandoned, converted to a chicken outlet
After the government spent millions of naira to establish a milk processing plant in Kwara State that would provided jobs...
SPECIAL REPORT: For Sokoto communities, promise of healthcare is akin to death sentence
In this story, ABDULRASHEED HAMMAD delves into the dire realities of Primary Health Care services in Sokoto State, shedding light...
ICYMI…SPECIAL REPORT: NNPCL hides behind PIA to frustrate disclosure, accountability
Nigeria’s major oil company, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited (NNPCL), in what appears to be a common practice of disregard...
INVESTIGATION: Multi-million naira Ekiti resort center remains uncompleted a decade after
The multimillion-naira project, expected to comprise recreational buildings, now consists of cassava farmland, a bush used for excretion, and a...
SPECIAL REPORT: Torturous experiences of students with disabilities in Oyo tertiary institutions
For students with disabilities in Oyo state-owned tertiary institutions, learning is a torturous and distressing experience, considering the building structures...