…Sets up 4 Working Groups

Emma Ujah, Abuja Bureau Chief

The Federal Government has set up four Technical Working (TWGs) Groups to review and implement a strategic roadmap for the resuscitation of ailing enterprises in the country.

The TWGs were constituted for four sectors: Automobile, Housing (Bricks and Clay), Mines and Steel, as well as, Oil Palm, according to a statement by the Head, Public Communications of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Uzoma Ibe, in Abuja, yesterday.

Mr. Alex A. Okoh, the Director-General of the BPE was quoted as saying, “the initiative is in consonance with the ease of doing business in Nigeria and in line with the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth (ERGP).”

He explained that the establishment of the TWGs was the culmination of the efforts by various stakeholders which started in 2018 to revive non-performing privatised Enterprises in the country.

According to the D-G, BPE in discharging its supervisory duties on privatised enterprises through the instrumentality of Result-Based Monitoring and Evaluation (RBME) discovered that, about 16% of the privatised companies were non -performing hence the result of the finding was submitted to the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) in 2018 and to the Senate Committee on Privatisation in 2020, leading to a meeting of the relevant stakeholders in the ailing enterprises held in July, 2018.

According to the Terms of Reference (TORs) for the Working Groups, they would:

*Conduct diagnostic study on the Enterprises in order to identify their current status (operational and financial positions) and conditions in terms of ownership, share structure and capacity utilisation;

*Prepare a Business Plan that meets the current sectoral requirement;

*Examine the challenges in the sectors;

*Develop a comprehensive 5-year, (2023 – 2027), Turnaround Program for each of the non-performing enterprises;

*Review and advise the Federal Government on the processes and implementation Turnaround Program; and *Determine the potential and economic viability of the sectors.