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Tag: Bureau of Public Enterprises

  • BPE to list two DisCos, GenCo on Stock Exchange

    BPE to list two DisCos, GenCo on Stock Exchange

    • FMBN, FHA, Film Corporation, others for commercialisation

    The Federal Government is concluding arrangements to list two electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and one generation company (GenCo) on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX).

    Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Ayodeji Gbeleyi, at his maiden media briefing yesterday in Abuja said the government was considering unbundling its equity stakes in two DisCos and a GenCo in first phase of transactions aimed at unlocking values and enhancing operating efficiency of national assets and state-owned enterprises.

    Gbeleyi, who was appointed by President Bola Tinubu mid 2024, said the unbundling would be done by offering part of government’s residual equity stakes in the three power companies to the investing public through initial public offerings (IPOs).

    He said the transactions would involve part of 40 per cent equity stake and 30 per cent equity stake jointly owned by federal and state governments in the DisCos and GenCo respectively.

    He however did not provide further details on the identities, timelines, values and proportions of the offers citing “sensitivity of the matter” and the need to protect the integrity of the transactions and avoid unnecessary anxieties among stakeholders.

    READ ALSO: Your governor has your money, ask him for it

    He noted that the listing of the three power firms would allow Nigerians to participate in the ownership of critical power infrastructure, while helping to strengthen corporate governance and transparency in the power sector.

    “We intend to drive shared prosperity and inclusiveness by listing part of the FGN-States’ 40 per cent/30 per cent residual shares in certain Discos and a Genco on the stock exchange,” Gbeleyi said.

    Market analysts yesterday said the transactions could unlock more than N2 trillion based on the average valuations of similar assets listed on the stock market.

    Two GenCos are already listed on the NGX. Transcorp Power Plc, owned largely by Tony Elumelu-led Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp Group), closed yesterday with total market value of N2.15 trillion.  Geregu Power Plc, owned mainly by Lagos billionaire businessman, Mr. Femi Otedola, was valued yesterday at N2.85 trillion.

    There are 11 DisCos including Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC), Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC), Eko Electricity Distribution Company (EKEDC), Enugu Electricity Distribution Company (EEDC), Ibadan Electricity Distribution Company (IBEDC), Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), Jos Electricity Distribution Company (JEDC), Kaduna Electricity Distribution Company (KAEDCO), Kano Electricity Distribution Company (KEDCO), Port Harcourt Electricity Distribution Company (PHEDC), and Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC).

    In the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), there are some 23 power generating plants connected to the national grid, although in most cases, as many as five could be put off operation owing to several constraints such as gas, transmission, vandalism and illiquidity in the sector.

    The most prominent GenCos included Egbin Power Plc, Shiroro Power Plc, Kainji/Jebba Power Plc, Transcorp Power Plc, Geregu Power Plc, Sapele Power Plc, Geregu Power Plc, Dadinkowa  and Azura-Edo among others.

    Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (Ikeja Electric), which has successfully optimised a functional corporate system, is Nigeria’s largest DisCos while the Ikorodu, Lagos-based Egbin Power Plc is the largest GenCo with installed capacity of 1,320 MW consisting of six units of 220MW each.

    Gbeleyi said BPE is also working on broader economic diversification through partial or full commercialisation of key agencies such as the National Parks Service, Nigeria Film Corporation, Federal Mortgage Bank of Nigeria (FMBN), and the Federal Housing Authority (FHA).

    He added that there are ongoing engagements for the concession of five airports and the optimisation of Baro Inland Port in collaboration with the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy and National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA).

    He said the BPE was committed to exploring financial and ownership models that will block the leakages in the government’s refineries.

    Although he did not go into detail on the refineries, he confirmed they fall among the major state-owned enterprises “yet to see action,” while indicating that plans are underway to “concession refineries, storage, and pipeline facilities” in the oil and gas sector.

    He said the overall focus of BPE remains creating a more efficient and competitive public enterprise landscape.

    “For us at the BPE, we have indeed set sail on re-engineering the reform and privatisation of public enterprises, one transaction at a time,” Gbeleyi said.

    Since established in 1999 as the Secretariat of the National Council on Privatisation under the Public Enterprises Act, BPE has completed 243 transactions. Of these, 109 public entities have been either fully or partially privatised or commercialized, while 91 remain untouched, including Nigeria’s refineries, airports, railways, and steel complexes.

    Gbeleyi said the BPE had faced delay in concluding many transactions due several challenges including lack of a clear and predictable legal framework for Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), resistance to reforms by some MDAs, inadequate funding, and legacy transaction-related litigation

    He said BPE was working with the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning and other stakeholders to build a strong pipeline of catalytic PPP projects.

    He pointed out that as part of the Renewed Hope Agenda, BPE is fast-tracking key energy-related projects, including the Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP), Afam III Fast Power, Makurdi Hydropower Plant, and reforms in the mining sector.

    He stressed that BPE’s broader strategy was to support President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda by unlocking value from public assets, driving private investment, and accelerating job creation.

    Gbeleyi said the Bureau is targeting N312.3 billion in revenue for 2025 through 15 strategic transactions, including six revenue-generating and nine reform-based projects.

    According to him, so far in 2025, BPE has raised N170.74 billion, including successful concession of the Zungeru Hydropower Plant at about N101.5 billion and the Afam III Fast Power project at about N53.92 billion.

    Gbeleyi defended the overall impact of privatisation on Nigeria’s economy, citing gains in key sectors such as telecommunications, maritime, pensions, and power.

    He pointed to Nigeria’s telecom revolution, which has grown from 400,000 active lines under NITEL to over 169 million subscribers today, with the sector contributing 14.4 per cent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    In the pensions sector, reforms have boosted Assets Under Management to N24.63 trillion as of June 2025, with more than 10.7 million Retirement Savings Accounts registered. In the ports, private terminal operations have cut cargo dwell times from 30 days to 7–14 days and attracted billions in investment since the 2006 port concessions.

    He recalled that the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) led to the creation of Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO) to promote market independence and efficiency.

    On metering, he said from the 403,255 meters recorded in 2013, the industry as at 31st March 2025 has 6,468,036 meter installation to boot.

    Giving the breakdown, he said 3.2 million meters came from the $500million Distribution Sector Recovery Program (DISREP) Program while 2.5 million meters were from the Presidential Metering Initiative.

    Gbeleyi said the debate has gone beyond whether to privatize the national refineries as the sales, commercialization and privatization are based on financial models.

    He expressed commitment to working towards the realisation of the $1 trillion renewed hope economy.

    He said the BPE is working to deliver 50 million jobs in line with the renewed hope agenda.

  • ‘Why BPE intervened in Dutse schools’

    The Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex Okoh has explained that the bureau intervened in the renovation and provision of learning materials in Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School, Dutse Alhaji in Bwari Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) because of indigent pupils.

    Speaking during the commissioning of the renovated projects in Dutse Alhaji, he advised that intervention should not be targeted at those that are well to do because it is more impactful to give to the poor.

    The project was the first Corporate Social Responsibility (CRS) project of the BPE, according, Okoh, who promised to also renovate the only block that was yet to be renovated in the school as soon as fund is available.

    He said that “We think that the area of intervention should not be those who already have or those who have the capacity to access such facilities. For intervention to be impactful and meaningful, it has to be targeted at those who can least afford it.

    “So we did a scoping, we did a scan of such institutions, primary institutions to university that fit the criteria in terms of being indigent and incidentally, that such threw up LEA Dutse Primary School.”

    The BPE, said Okoh, at the celebration of its 30th anniversary recently, part of the decision of the celebration of the landmark was to identify a series of projects and sections in the economy and national life that required intervention as part of the bureau’s corporate  social responsibility.

    He noted that the sections that were mentioned were the education, health, environmental  and people with disability, but eventually, the BPE decided to intervene in education.

    He emphasised the importance of primary education in human and career development, stressing that without a solid and standard basic educational foundation the society, cannot be firm.

    Okoh said that “among the primary school children you see today is another Director General ofthe Bureau of Public Enterprises. Perhaps, among the  people we are providing for today, there is the next President, Muhammadu Buhari, the president of Nigeria.

    “So, it is important that we take this level of our education very seriously. It is the basic foundation upon which other educational pursuit will be built. And if the foundation is shaking, you can be lest assured that rest of the building will not stand.”

    Confirming the gesture of the BPE, the school headmistress, Mrs. Idowu Ajoke Adebomi, enumerated some of the projects as : renovation of two blocks of classrooms, reconstruction of a modern toilet, construction of drainage system, provision of furniture, provision of school uniforms, provision of teachers tables and chairs,  provision of pupils exercise book and donation to the novel “Shun Violence and Embrace Peace” to ensure as well as to promote peaceful co-existence.

    She called on HRH, Hakimi, Alhaji Abubakar Bako to help provide security for all the facilities.

    Meanwhile, Bako promised to secure the necessary security for the school and its facilities.

    He joined the headmistress to call on the BPE to also renovate the only building that has become an eyesore in the school.

  • Lagos Trade Fair Complex not for sale, says BPE

    The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) yesterday said that it has no intention to sell the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC), rather, it said the Federal Government will concession the facility through a competitive transaction process.

    In a statement, its Head of Public Communication, Amina Tukur Othaman, said the Bureau’s attention was drawn to the closure of the complex by the Traders’ Associations operating in the complex and the protest by the said association over the purported sale of the complex.

    “For the avoidance of doubt, the Bureau states that the Federal Government, through the BPE, does not intend to sell the complex, rather,  the facility would be concessioned through a competitive transaction process.

    “It is for this reason that the government has procured the services of Messrs Feedback Infrastructure Services to advise on the way forward for the proposed concession. It is apt to inform the public that the Bureau on Friday, March 1, 2019, met with the entire Traders’ Associations to explain the essence of the planned Concession,” the statement explained.

    It would be recalled that the BPE had on August 23, 2017, placed caveat emptor in some national newspapers in the country wherein, it stated that the lease agreement that was hitherto executed by the government in favour of Aulic Nigeria Limited had been validly terminated and possession reverted to the governmrnt with effect from August 23, 2017.

    Members of the public were therefore warned that “any purported allotment, buying, selling, letting, leasing, charging, and subdivision, construction upon or dealings in connection with the said property and parcels of land in any other manner howsoever without the written permission of the FGN represented by the BPE is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent and amounts to trespass”.

    It further warned that any person(s) interfering with the said parcels of land “stand to lose their money as the FGN through the BPE will neither honour agreements, contracts or arrangements entered into with person(s) purporting to have authority to transact the property and or parcels of land whether in the manner described or in any other manner whatsoever nor will it re-imburse any monies paid in respect of such transaction”.

     

  • No intention to sell LITFC, says BPE

    ..Confirms concession of facility

    The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on Tuesday said that it has no intention to sell the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC), rather the Federal Government will concession the facility through a competitive transaction process.

    In a statement made available to reporters in Abuja, the BPE’s Head of Public Communication, Amina Tukur Othaman, noted that the Bureau’s attention was drawn to the closure of the complex by the Traders’ Associations operating in the Complex and the protest by the said association over the purported sale of the Complex.

    The statement said that “for the avoidance of doubt, the Bureau states that the Federal Government of Nigeria through the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), does not intend to sell the Complex rather the facility would be concessioned through a competitive transaction process.”

    READ ALSO: FG denies privatisation of Dams

    It is for this reason that the Government has procured the Services of Messrs Feedback Infrastructure Services to advise on the way forward for the proposed concession. It is apt to inform the public that the Bureau on Friday, March 1, 2019, met with the entire Traders’ Associations to explain the essence of the planned Concession.

    It would be recalled that the Bureau had on August 23, 2017, placed a Caveat Emptor in some national newspapers in the country wherein, it stated that the lease agreement that was hitherto executed by the FGN in favour of Aulic Nigeria Limited had been validly terminated and possession reverted to the FGN with effect from 23rd day of August 2017.

    Members of the public were therefore warned that “any purported allotment, buying, selling, letting, leasing, charging, and subdivision, construction upon or dealings in connection with the said property and parcels of land in any other manner howsoever without the written permission of the FGN represented by the BPE is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent and amounts to trespass”.

    It further warned that any person(s) interfering with the said parcels of land “stand to lose their money as the FGN through the BPE will neither honour agreements, contracts or arrangements entered into with person(s) purporting to have authority to transact the property and or parcels of land whether in the manner described or in any other manner whatsoever nor will it reimburse any monies paid in respect of such transaction”.

    The Bureau reiterates that it is willing to collaborate with all stakeholders to ensure a smooth and successful completion of the transaction; and appealed for cooperation from them.

  • Five firms bid to buy Yola DisCos

    A total of five bids were received by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) on Friday, being the deadline for the submission of technical and financial proposals for the acquisition of the Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) and Afam Electricity Generation Company (Afam Power Plc & Afam Three Fast Power Limited) by prospective core-investors.

    Two firms- Quest Electricity Nigeria Limited and Sandstream Nigeria, submitted proposals to acquire the Yola Disco while DiamondStripes Consortium, Unicorn Power Generation Consortium and Transcorp Power, sought to acquire the Afam Genco.

    Sandstream submission was however found to be non-responsive as it failed to include a bank guarantee in line with the requirements in the Requests for Proposal (RfPs). Accordingly; the representative of the firm took the bid back.

    Speaking at the event, Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh assured the bidders that the evaluation of their bids would be subjected to the highest level of integrity culminating into the financial bids opening of the successful bidders.

    BPE’s Head of Public Communications, Amina Tukur Othman made this known in a statement on Monday.

    The statement noted that Okoh said the Evaluation Committee would meet immediately to discuss and finalise the scoring criteria before commencing the evaluation process on Monday, March 18, 2019 and end on Thursday, March 21, 2109.

    It would be recalled that 19 firms had indicated interest to acquire the Afam Power Company and the Yola Distribution Company (YDC) put up for sale by the Federal Government at the close of the submission of bids for the Expression of Interest (EOIs) at 1 pm on Tuesday, September 26, 2018.

    The request for expression of interest in the two companies was published by the BPE in national newspapers on August 16, 2018 and after evaluation of the EOIs, 11 firms qualified for the next stage but only the five were successful.

    It would be recalled that although Yola Distribution Company was successfully privatised and handed over to the core investor in 2013, a force majeure was declared in 2015 by the core investor citing insecurity in the North-East region of the country. Following this, the company was duly repossessed by the Federal Government. The transaction for Afam Power Generation Company, on the other hand, fell through due to the delay in signing the Gas Supply Agreement (GSAA) and the Gas Transportation Agreement (GTA).

    In 2017 the National council on Privatisation (NCP) gave approval for a fresh transaction to privatise the two power companies.

    It is expected that the successful bidders will be responsible for operating the generation and distribution companies, making the necessary investments to improve the generation and distribution networks and customer service in line with the objectives of the Federal Government of Nigeria set out in the National Electric Power Policy (NEPP).

  • ‘Buhari committed to private sector driven economy’

    President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration is committed to a private sector driven economy, the Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex A. Okoh, has said.

    He called on local and international businessmen to take advantage of the government’s open door policy to establish businesses in the country.

    Okoh, who spoke at the handover of the Terminal ‘B’ Warri Old Port to the concessionaire- Ocean & Cargo Terminal Services Limited –on Monday, said Nigerian ports are the main gateway to the country; and are key to the Federal Government’s objective of diversifying and growing the economy.

    He said the objective of the government’s concession, is to increase efficiency at the ports with the ultimate goal to modernise the ports to make them more competitive.

    Okoh, in a statement issued by BPE’s Head of Public Communication, Amina Othman Tukur,  said the concession is for a period of 25 years at an annual lease fee of $1,621,500, in addition to the entry fee and monthly throughput fee chargeable on the volume of cargo handled.

    He assured that the implementation of the covenanted development plan for the Concessionaire would be closely monitored by the relevant government agencies, including the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), BPE and Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) to ensure compliance.

    NPA Managing Director, Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman, represented by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Sokonte Davies, said the concessioning of ports’ facilities was carried out to enhance productivity and attract more cargos to the hitherto abandoned port.

    She appealed to the people in the port community to support government’s initiatives aimed at developing the maritime industry, saying the port concession would enhance the economy of Delta State and create jobs for people in the host communities.

    “We, therefore implore the communities, in making the government’s efforts a success; they should work positively with the concessionaire; the communities should try not to put any pressure on them because pressures can shut the business down.

    “But if the communities support them, they will see that as activities increase and vessels come, it will increase the engagement of young men and women and even several other people.

    “The communities will be positively impacted because the economy will grow and it will have positive effect on every area of life of the people.

    “We are using this opportunity to appeal to the host communities to help this one to work. It is working in other places, don’t let yours be different”, he added.

  • We have reformed 142 public enterprises in 18 years – BPE

    The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has successfully reformed (by way of privatization, commercialization and in some cases concessioned) a total of 142 public enterprises, from 1999 till date through various transaction strategies.

    This was disclosed to newsmen by the Director General of the bureau, Mr. Alex Okoh, on Thursday in its Abuja office, during a press briefing.

    According to Okoh: “about N550 billion have been the proceeds from the privatization of the 142 assets by the bureau. However, it is not all of reforms that translate into sales and cash.

    “For the assets that are just perhaps commercialized (that are not sold), you won’t see proceeds being reflected as in the figure mentioned earlier.

    “Of the 142, not all of them were privatized; some were commercialized, while some were merely concessioned.”

    “The reform agenda and activities of the bureau have covered various sectors of the economy, including – agriculture, automobile, telecommunication, hotels and tourism, steel and aluminum, etc,” he said.

    He went further to highlight a few of the achievements of the bureau till date through its privatization and commercialization programmes. A few of them are: the expansion of private sector participation in the Nigerian economy, attracting quality foreign investors and capital, and a more efficient allocation of government resources by redirecting funding of public enterprises by government to other key sectors of the economy that are socially imperative such as healthcare, education etc.

    “The privatization of Afam Power Plant; re-privatization of Yola Disco; concessioning of terminal “B” Warri Old Port; restructuring and recapitalization of the Bank of Agriculture; partial commercialization of three selected national parks; and the partial commercialization of the river basin authority, are a few of the current transactions and initiatives of the bureau,” he said.

    He further explained that, “the re-concessioning of the Lagos International Tradefair; focus on infrastructure and Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiatives; and the development of data management framework for the power sector, is among the current BPE transactions and initiatives.”

    “In terms of sectoral reforms, the pension sector was actually evolved into a contributory and a more robust sector through the intervention of the BPE. The total asset base of that sector is in the region of 8 – 9 trillion Naira.

    “The most recent sector that has benefited from the activity of privatization is the power sector. This has evolved the privatization of the generation end of the power industry, as well as the distribution end of the value chain.

    “The only segment remaining for some form of reform is the transmission of the power sector,” he said.

    Clarifying on whether there is conflict in the roles of the BPE and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Mr. Okoh said: “the ICRC is a concession regulatory agency, and that is precisely what they are. There is a difference between concession transaction management and concession regulation.

    “We are in the business of concession transaction management, we do not do regulation.”

    Addressing the issue of the National Carrier programme, the D-G said, “the National Carrier programme is an initiative of the ministry of transport, aviation. I believe that the ministry believes that this is the time to resuscitate the idea of a national carrier.

    “If it is an initiative to establish or create, we are not part of that process. That is essentially the initiative, objective and policy of the ministry. However, when it come to the issue of divestment or the sale of the asset that BPE becomes involved.”

    About N400 billion of the current budget is projected to be coming from privatization and commercialization of activities of the BPE.

    On ownership of Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON), “I believe that we have resolved the issues around ALSCON as far as ownership is concerned. The government has revoked the initial agreement with BFIG, and we’ve concluded and affirmed the sale of that asset to UC RUSAL.

    “We are in the process of conducting a technical audit to determine what precisely will be required to fire the plant again. UC RUSAL has submitted a comprehensive report to us in terms of the process it will take and the investment that will be required to bring the plant back to full production.

    Read Also: BPE: over 60% of privatized firms performing

    “So, we estimate that all things being equal, issues around the supply and the price of gas are being resolved; issues around the evacuation of excess power from the plant are being resolved.

    “Nothing should be able to prevent the plant from going into production by the end of the year or the first quarter of next year. We believe that this is a great achievement for a matter that has been protracted for 13 years,” he said.

    Concerning enterprises that are not doing well, Mr. Okoh said, “we adjudge by our own evaluation that about 36 – 37% of enterprises that have been privatized are not doing very well.

    “There are many reasons for this; some of them are as a result of macroeconomic issues, fiscal issues etc. We are not abandoning these enterprises, but we are looking at how to address all of the issues that are affecting the effective performance of these enterprises.”

    On overcoming the challenges of interest groups, especially the labour unions, he said, “what we have tried to do is to bring the unions proactively into the transactions that we manage. We usually will invite the labour leaders to be part of the transaction process, so that they know what the objectives of the reform of the enterprise is; and they are able to also advise us on what the concerns of the workers may be. This way, we can incorporate and factor all of that into the reform programme.”

    Concerning post-privatization, the D-G said: “typically we execute a post-acquisition plan with the core investors in the privatized enterprises. The plan stipulates certain expectations in terms of performance and the covenants that guide the protection of the assets and the extraction of value from the assets.

    “The covenants are embedded in the post-acquisition agreements that we sign with the core investors.”

    Explaining further, he said, “we also have a very robust framework in-house through the post-transaction management unit; where we engage in periodic and constant evaluation of all the enterprises – both the performing and non-performing.

    “As soon as they hit a particular threshold, where we are no longer concerned about the performance, we give them a certificate of exception, and then they are taken off the evaluation and monitoring framework.

    “However, they are all on our dashboard as long as they are within that time frame; and through that comprehensive dashboard, we are able to monitor the performance of those enterprises.”

  • BPE to firm: Conclude equity investment in 60 days

    BPE to firm: Conclude equity investment in 60 days

    The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh, has given Lead Capital Consortium a deadline of 60 calendar days to conclude the strategic equity investment by the National Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA) into the Nigeria Commodity Exchange (NCX).

    The deadline was given on Wednesday at the kick-off meeting of the advisory services for the transaction. He pointed out that the main aim of the meeting was to formally introduce the appointed advisor, Lead Capital Consortium, to the key stakeholders including Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (FMI&TI), Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development(FMA&RD), Federal Ministry of Finance(FMF), NCX and NSIA, and to signal the commencement of the advisory service.

    Lead Capital Consortium emerged the preferred advisor after a competitive bidding process using the Quality and Cost Based Selection Method (QCBS).

    Head Public Communications of the BPE, Mr. Chukwuma Nwoko that made this known in a statement onn Wednesday quoted Okoh as saying that: “This assignment as outlined in the work plan, commences today, June 21, 2017 and to be concluded within a period of 60 calendars days, unfailingly. We, therefore, solicit for the continued support and cooperation of the stakeholders to ensure that this transaction is delivered within the timeframe envisaged.”

    He pointed out that the transaction is unique in the sense that unlike in the traditional privatisation transaction approach where a private sector entity is brought in to acquire government shareholding and take over the management and operation of the public enterprise, “here a Government entity is making a strategic investment in NCX. This is to enable NCX have access to investment capital to develop the infrastructure to carry out its business effectively in facilitating trade and developing settlement instruments and platforms in agricultural produce and basic minerals.”

    The Steering Committee of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), chaired by the Honourable Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, was charged with the responsibility of midwiving the revitalisation of the NCX through the approved strategic equity investment in the exchange by the NSIA.

    The BPE DG noted that “it is envisaged that within a period of 3-5 years, NCX would have been sufficiently transformed to attract high calibre private sector investors to take over. As such it is very important that an effective monitoring mechanism is put in place to ensure that the investments are prudently used and the business plan faithfully implemented.”

    Okoh thanked the Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) who approved that the operations of the NCX should be revitalised through a Strategic Equity Investment by the NSIA for a period of 3 – 5 years.

  • ICPC, BPE to stop stripping of privatised assets

    ICPC, BPE to stop stripping of privatised assets

    The Chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other related Offences Commission (ICPC), Mr. Ekpo Nta has pledged the Commission’s desire to collaborate with the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) to protect privatized enterprises in the country from asset- stripping by the new owners.

    Speaking against  the backdrop of reported cases of asset-stripping by owners of privatised enterprises in the country, the ICPC boss commended the initiative by the BPE to partner with the Commission and assured that apart from getting involved as observers in the transaction processes of the Bureau,”ICPC will  also collaborate  in   the post-privatisation activities of the BPE since some of the investors after takeover often engage in assets- stripping thus, negating the essence of privatization”.

    Nta who made this known when the management of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) led by its Acting Director General, Dr. Vincent Onome Akpotaire paid a courtesy visit to the Commission, said ICPC was interested in strengthening public institutions to ensure that public funds do not enrich individuals.

    The BPE’s head, Public Communications, Mr. Alex Okoh made this known in a statement Tuesday.

    The Chairman urged the BPE to constantly monitor privatized enterprises to achieve the objectives of privatization for the benefit of the citizenry. He expressed optimism that the synergy which the Bureau seeks with the Commission would bring about the desired results especially in the areas of investigation and intelligence gathering.

    According to him, the Commission had the expertise to carry out due diligence and background checks on prospective investors which are major ingredients for foolproof transactions by the Bureau. He listed the gains of privatization which include; preventing the use of public wealth for private gains, a veritable tool for the fight against corruption and efficiency in service delivery.

    He recalled that privatization was actually mooted in the 1970s with the nationalization policy in the days of Shell BP and Barclays Bank and that “privatization was not initially an economic policy, but an attempt to assert Nigeria’s independence”.

    Earlier, the Acting Director- General of the BPE, Dr. Vincent Onome Akpotaire had disclosed that the Bureau was poised to step up its privatisation processes in line with international best practices.

    Akpotaire called for increased synergy between both agencies to ensure an all encompassing upgrade of the transaction process. According to him “ICPC is an integral partner in the Bureau’s transactions and its input will be beneficial to the upgrade initiative and the national economic objective in its entirety”.

    He said transparency and integrity would remain key in the Bureau’s existing transaction processes and the proposed upgrade especially against the backdrop of “the growing trends of white collar crimes across the globe which makes it necessary to close the gaps and help the Commission to be familiar with our processes”.

    The Acting DG added that “resources are better utilized when such crimes are averted at the early stages of any transaction process”.

    The BPE Acting helmsman sought more intimate liaison between the two agencies as they both had a common goal to ensure transparent financial transaction process.

    He assured that the Bureau would at all times make all information about its transactions and processes available to the Commission when demanded.