Minister of Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola yesterday urged the Federal Government to audit its assets that were privatised, to determine whether the objectives had been met.
He said the country’s experience had shown that continued privatisation of government-owned enterprises may not resolve its infrastructure problem.
The minister, who spoke at a public hearing on a bill to repeal the Bureau of Public Enterprise Act, said in most cases, assets stripping had become the order of the day while such privatized companies added no value to the system.
Fashola also emphasised of the need for the government to continue to manage certain agencies, adding that sometimes, those who buy the privatised or concessioned companies lack the capacity to manage them.
He stressed: “I am not against private sector investment or participation in national development. I am not against it. So, let me make my position very clear. But it saves that a conversation has persisted, suggesting that every time we have a developmental problem, the silver bullet is given to the private sector.
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“I think that it is a conversation that has been heard in very general terms and it needs to be interrogated in a very granular form – some detail. I just wish to point this honourable committee in that direction.
“The first thing I want to ask is that, of all the assets that we have disposed of and the reasons for disposing of them or for commercialising them or for privatising them, have we achieved the objective that we set out to achieve? I think we should ask that question.” Fashola said.
The minster reasoned that if an honest audit was carried out, “some of the things that would begin to become obvious to us is that we need to be more circumspect about certain types of assets.
He stressed: “This is an important point: There are certain types of assets that the private sector is just unable to deal with. For example, when you look at roads, not many people who claim to want to do it have the capacity or the experience to do it.”
Fashola observed that rail tracks are another area of difficulty for private-public partnerships.
He stressed: “Another example of where we would have difficulty and where nations, not just Nigeria, would have difficulty is rail – the tracks; those are hundred-year assets. So, there is no hundred-year money in the market. Usually, government builds those assets, then, you can concession.
“The airports and the wonderful buildings are very good for privatisation. But not the runway or the control tower because in the terminal building, there is quick money moving around. There are people selling, rents and shops.
“So, all I am speaking to is that we should have a clear understanding of the type of assets that are easily amenable to PPPs. Not all assets are easily amenable; that is the point I just want to make. So, it is not a silver bullet to every infrastructure problem.”