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Nigeria may lose N15bn World Bank loan
Gbade Ogunwale, Abuja
Nigeria may lose about N15 billion World Bank loan for the privatisation exercise, as the National Assembly has failed to meet the June 30, 2004 deadline set for the passage of the power sector reform bill.
Apparently trapped in the labyrinth of fierce politicking among the various vested interests and stakeholders alike, the bill has continued to suffer unnecessary delay since it was brought before the legislature about a year ago.
Director-General of the Bureau for Public Enterprises, Dr. Julius Bala, had, during a visit to the leadership of the Senate a few weeks ago, hinted of threats by the World Bank to withdraw its financial commitments to the exercise if the bill was not passed by June 30, 2004.
The bank had earmarked a loan of $114 million to the country for the rehabilitation of the National Electric Power Authority�s transmission grid under International Development Assistance terms, ahead of its privatisation.
According to the BPE boss, the delay in the passage of the bill was a source of concern to his establishment, stating further that reform in the power sector was crucial to the entire privatisation programme embarked upon by the Federal Government.
He argued that since every sector of the economy depended heavily on regular supply of electricity, it would be counter-productive for any of the companies slated for privatisation to operate under the present epileptic power supply, even after they might have been sold.
Chairman of the Senate committee on Privatisation, Senator Isaiah Balat, could not be reached for comments, as there was no response from his mobile phone when our correspondent called his number on Wednesday.
Balat had, during an interview shortly before the Senate went on break, said that the bill would be given accelerated passage to meet the deadline set by the World Bank, adding that disagreements among some senators were responsible for the delay in the passage of the bill.
The committee chairman had stated that there was fierce bickering among the lawmakers over who should head the National Council on Privatisation, as fallouts of a bill sent to the National Assembly by President Olusegun Obasanjo on the issue.
The said bill had, among others things, sought some sweeping changes in the composition of the National Council on Privatisation, including a clause that sought to replace Vice- President Atiku Abubakar as the chairman of the council.
The World Bank had, on Tuesday, carpeted the policy makers and executors of the nation�s four-year old privatisation programme for the slow pace at which the exercise was being carried out.
The Punch, Thursday, July 1st , 2004
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