|
Lull in Privatisation
When the Federal Government inaugurated the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) in July 1999, as the topmost body of its privatisation programme, with Vice President Atiku Abubakar as its Chairman, the move was seen as a measure of government�s seriousness in divesting its interest in public corporations.
Year in, year out, Government�s investments in its enterprises continue to go down the drain. While the enterprises continue to record losses and reel in debts, their managers, through outright theft and corruption, live in obscene affluence. This explains why many discerning Nigerians lent their support to government�s privatisation programme. However, since the change of guard at the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), the agency responsible for the implementation of this part of Government�s economic policy, there has been a lull in the privatisation programme. This was noticeable, even before the Government reconstituted the NCP early last month.
It is baffling that key enterprises whose privatisation would have had the desired effect on the economy and the people have either been left untouched or have run into a hitch. The salutary effects a privatised NEPA would have had on energy supply, which is at the heart of the nation�s industrialisation process, are well known. Yet, Government is not in a hurry to hasten the passage of the Power Sector Reform Bill. Instead, it is planning to sink more money into the sick corporation in a vain attempt to revive it.
The Mint, NNPC and NAFCON are other examples of enterprises which ought to have been privatised long ago. The recent fraud uncovered at NAFCON, NNPC and NITEL, is a proof, if any is needed, that Government should quickly divest itself of its interests in these corporations. The money realised from their sale and the amount that would be saved yearly from the non-disbursement of subvention could be used to fund education, healthcare and the rehabitation of infrastructure.
The recent alarm raised by the World Bank on the slow pace of privatisation should be seen as a wake-up call. The Bank gave a rather �unsatisfactory rating� of the implementation process. According to it, the BPE has drawn only $21.59 million or 18% out of a total of $114.29 million it set aside on June 14, 2001 for the privatisation-support initiative. The Bank had hoped that if the fund was effectively applied, it would �accelerate implementation and full achievement of the Development Objective� of the programme.
The World Bank report stated that the objectives of its privatisation policy are to �support transparent and effective implementation of the Federal Government of Nigeria�s privatisation programme, as a basis for fostering accelerated economic growth, through expanded private investment and improved efficiency in the productive sectors and in infrastructure; and create an enabling environment for private sector participation and competition in infrastructure services, notably in telecommunications and the electric sector.�
The Federal Government should, as a matter of urgency, set in motion the processes for the privatisation of these inefficient agencies. The starting point is the urgent passage of the Power Sector Reform Bill. The economic implications of further delay is too grim to be imagined.
The organised Labour should also lend support to the privatisation programme, by engaging the Government and the prospective owners of the enterprises slated for privatisation in a fruitful dialogue that would resolve whatever fears Labour might have. To keep key corporations and public enterprises under the stranglehold of government control is to cripple economic growth and employment generation.
The Punch, Monday August 02, 2004
|
|
| |
Copyright 2003 - 2004
Punch (Nigeria) Limited. All Rights Reserved
Powered by dnetsystems.net
dnet�
|
|
|
|
