ENUGU—PRESIDENT Olusegun Obasanjo yesterday in Enugu expressed concern over the apparent lack of interest being shown by Igbo businessmen and their politicians in the current privatization programme of the federal government. In a message sent to the three-day Southeast zonal forum on privatization, Obasanjo described the attitude of the Igbo to the programme as “paradoxical and totally inexplicable given the enterprising spirit and business acumen of the people”.
According to the president, available records had shown that the southeast zone, which is associated with entrepreneurship, inventiveness and commercial ingenuity, was inexplicably trailing other parts of the country in the privatization exercise. Represented by his Special Assistant on Bureau of Public Enterprises Reverend Sunday Onuoha, Obasanjo said the forum was a clear indication of the government’’s determination to encourage and persuade the southeast businessmen to buy into the reform agenda through active participation in the privatization programme.
He challenged the participants at the forum to contribute meaningfully to the deliberations and assist government in identifying all inhibiting factors, social obstacles and other constraints which may combine to hinder the full involvement and participation of the south east zone in the privatization programme.
“I wish to express my deep concern with the discomforting reports of apparent disinterestedness of Ndi Igbo in the privatization programme. It is paradoxical and totally inexplicable that the enterprising spirit and the business acumen, hallmarks of Ndi Igbo, have not been brought to bear on the programme,” he said.
The Federal Government’’s commitment towards the prosecution of the reform agenda, the president further said, has yielded quantifiable results as evidenced in the increased direct foreign investment, reactivation and revitalization of newly privatized enterprises as well as the noticeable growth in the agricultural, banking and telecommunications sector of the economy.
He added that more noticeable positive impact of the reforms would become more evident when the mega sectors of the economy such as power, Oil and Gas, Solid Mineral and Nigerians and Nigerian Ports Authority undergo full restructuring.
“While it gladdens my heart that Nigerians have embraced the cardinal objectives of government in instituting policy changes as well as structural and institutional reforms, it has been my honest hope and desire to ensure the total mobilization of all Nigerians for effective participation in the implementation process”, Obasanjo said, adding that government was poised to realize the objectives of the exercise.
Minister for Information and National orientation, Chief Chukwuemeka Chikelu who also spoke at the occasion, enumerated the advantages of privatization to include encouraging the spirit of competition, curbing corruption and the looting of public enterprises.
He said that the aim of privatization was to systematically harness, synchronize and harmonize the country’’s economic and human resources and channel them to a more purposeful and productive use. “Such a circumspective planning anchored on sound management will eliminate wasteful spending of public funds”, he said.
The Minister said that the transfer of public enterprises to the private sector was the best way to curb corruption in public concerns and would also ensure a better management of the enterprises and efficient utilization of resources. He added that privatization would serve as a vehicle for the attainment and sustenance of the economic development of the country.
