|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Senate on Tuesday resolved to probe the privatization of Federal Government’s enterprises.
It therefore directed its Committee on Privatization to interface with the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in conducting a public hearing to determine the public enterprises privatized/commercialized, current status of privatized enterprises, extent of due process in the conduct of the exercise, enterprises whose privatization where reversed by the Federal Government.
It also mandated the committee to scrutinize the extent of compliance with the post-privatization conditions by core investors, and the impact of privatization/commercialization of public enterprises on the nation’s economy.
This followed a motion moved by Umar Kurfi (APC, Katsina State) and six others.
Read Also: Senate queries FIRS over unremitted N1.4bn withholding tax, VAT from MDAs
He noted that privatization was institutionalized as a viable economic reform policy that would help cut the inefficiencies of the public sector, provide greater scope to the private sector, attract more investments and revive the failing economy.
In his motion titled: ‘The need to review the privatization of public enterprises in Nigeria’, he said: “Privatization of public enterprises is a bye product of global economic recession in the 80s where Nigeria and other African countries where advised by the Bretton Woods Institutions (International Monetary Fund, IMF) and the World Bank to divest from their public enterprises as one of the conditions for economic assistance”.
The lawmaker expressed worry that “while the objectives of privatization are noble, the exercise is not accompanied or preceded by an articulated and properly phased public sector reform in addition to several other challenges which makes the programme unable to facilitate efficient production of public goods or make any significant impact to fiscal balance”.
Kurfi also observed that “since privatization of public enterprises is marred by varied administrative, regulatory and financial irregularities, some experts are of the view that policy makers should consider non-traditional privatization methods such as deregulation, leasing, management contracting and franchising of monopoly rights at least in the short run than relying heavily on full divestiture as the primary mode of privatization in Nigeria”.
“While the objectives of privatization has not been realized to stimulate economic growth or welfare of the people, the exercise seemed to make the poor poorer by increasing unemployment and reducing access of the poor to basic goods and services through increase in prices in addition to the fact that most of the privatized firms went into comatose after the privatization.
“The current economic challenges may continue to aggravate with monumental effects on human survival, welfare and development if privatization and commercialization carried out from 1999 date is not revisited to rectify anomalies as alternative for diversified economic reform”.
In his contribution, the Senate Leader, Ahmad Lawan lamented that due process was not followed during the privatization while the interest of investors was not respected.
Lawan therefore called for comprehensive investigation of the exercise with a view to knowing the agreement and conditions upon which the privatization was carried out and the amount realized from the sale of the companies.
He particularly advised the Committee on Privatisation to engage the NCP and BPE to review the report on the matter from 2011 till date for a thorough job.
Senate President Bukola Saraki said the exercise had become necessary so as to stimulate economic growth and welfare of the people as well as reducing the rate of unemployment in the country.
OWEDE AGBAJILEKE, Abuja
