FG Re-Inaugurates Privatisation Council

The Federal Government has reconstituted the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) after two years since its assumption of power.

The Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, who chairs the NCP noted that the council had handled the privatisation and reformation of 142 public enterprises since inception.

This was made known in a statement from the Bureau of Public Enterprises.

According to the statement, the absence of the council in the last two years had prevented scheduled privatisation transactions as other agencies of government had taken over such responsibilities.

Osinbajo pointed out that the inauguration of the NCP is a critical step in the process of putting in place part of the institutional framework necessary for the actualisation of the socio-economic agenda of the administration.

“It is also a demonstration of our administration’s commitment to public sector reform and the central role of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) in this process. Even though the public sector has been at the centre stage in the provision of critical infrastructure and services cutting across the whole spectrum of the nation’s life since independence, the emerging importance and centrality of the private sector to the actualization of the economic agenda of the administration cannot be downplayed,”

The Acting President stated that apart from playing a dominant role of generating employment opportunities, the intervention of the private sector enhances the process of industrialisation, delivers critical infrastructure and services the country.

To him, the role can only be unleashed when government’s role of regulating and creating an enabling environment is robustly undertaken. “This will, in turn, offer the private sector the required comfort and assurance to make investments and expect a reasonable return on thereon,” he said.

He, therefore, pledged the administration’s commitment to giving all the required support to the NCP in carrying out its statutory responsibilities.

“In return, the Government expects the NCP to come up with creative out-of-the-box solutions for addressing the numerous challenges facing the privatisation and commercialisation programme such as non-performance by some privatised enterprises and post-privatisation challenges facing some of the privatised enterprises.

“The Government also expects the NCP to make measurable progress in respect of the outstanding transactions affecting some of the areas critical to the economic recovery of the nation. You must make deliberate and conscious efforts to learn from past experiences and guard against avoidable mistakes of the past,” he added.