National Assembly faults privatisation exercise of FG

By Peter DURU
Indications have emerged that the National Assembly may direct the reversal of the  privatisation of some government firms and establishments due to the failure of the Bureau for Public Enterprises( BPE) to instill sanity in the privatisation exercise.
The decision to re-acquire these establishments stem from the fact that most of the firms that bought over the hitherto government companies have failed to fulfill their part of the bargain.

Yar Aduaa

This hint was dropped by a Member of the House of Representative Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation, Hon. Mzenda Iho while fielding questions from newsmen in Makurdi.

Iho who represents Katsina-Ala/Ukum/Logo Federal Constituency at the lower arm of the National Assembly asserted that the decision of the lawmaking body would also be driven by the fact that due process was not followed in the sale and concession of most of the affected establishments.

The Lawmaker regretted that the essence of government’s decision to privatise and commercialise most of its establishments have been defeated owing mainly to the insincerity on the part of those who acquired such agencies.

He noted that in the course of oversight functions, members of his committee discovered that some organisations that acquired government’s majority shares in the sold companies failed to strictly observe the Sale Purchase Agreement (SPA).

Iho said, “We are not impressed with the way some companies were being managed by the firms that acquired them; some have failed to add value to the companies and establishments which is glaring because some of these hitherto government establishments have greatly deteriorated and in dilapidated condition thereby making nonsense of the privatisation exercise which was in the first place intended to reposition the affected agencies”.

“We have also discovered lots of dirty deals in the exercise and it may also interest you to know that we also uncovered in some cases that these hitherto government agencies are being milk yet no commensurate maintenance policies were put up by the benefiting firms who are only interested in making profits for themselves; it is sad indeed”, he said.

The lawmaker described the role of the BPE in the privatisation exercise as unfortunate emphasising that the Bureau has failed to live up to the expectations of Nigerians in the privatisation and commercialisation programme of the Federal Government.He said, “We are not impressed with the role of the BPE because we saw lots of dirty deals in these privatized organizations and nobody seem to be calling them to order but my warning to the beneficiaries of the sale is that they must do the right things or we will have no option but to reserve the sale”.