Over N1trillion has been remitted into the government coffers as proceeds from the sale of 132 public enterprises since 2001, Chris Anyanwu, director general, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) disclosed on Wednesday.
Although Anyanwu did not list the enterprises, he acknowledged that the feat which was accomplished since the
inception of the Privatisation Support Project (PSP) had the support of the UK Department for International Development (DFID), World Bank, USAID and the Spanish Government.
Anyanwu spoke in Abuja at the two-day stakeholders’ workshop on the PSP of the World Bank.
Fifty-five public enterprises were privatised through Initial Public Offer (IPO) between 1989 and 1994. However the privatisation exercise was suspended in 1994 but resumed in 1999.
But between 1999 to August, 2001, 17 public enterprises were privatised with the support of USAID and the Spanish Government.
Explaining the imperatives of privatisation, Anyanwu described the process as a “radical experiment in public policy motivated by the conviction of the enormous benefits of free market mechanism and its impact is felt in all spheres of the economy”.
He also acknowledged World Bank’s immense support in the privatisation in collaboration with the BPE was the most visible of her PSP programmes in Nigeria.
“We are happy to testify that the World Bank, through the PSP, has been of incalculable assistance to the privatisation and commercialisation programme in Nigeria”.
Speaking further, he highlighted the objectives of the PSP in Nigeria to include restructuring and rationalising the public sector in order to lessen the dominance of unproductive investments in the sector.
Other objectives include “to raise funds for financing socio-economic development in such areas as health, education and infrastructure; ensure positive returns in public sector investment in commercialised enterprises through more efficient management; initiate the process of gradual transfer to the private sector of public enterprise which are better operated by the private sector and create more jobs, acquire new knowledge and technology and expose the country.
