“As I speak, all privatisation processes have led to job loss. The terminal benefits of the workers have not been paid. I have thousands of the power sector workers whose benefits have not been paid. They said investors are coming from other climes to invest in our power sector. What happened is that they went to the banks where we saved our money, withdrew the money and bought those assets and added no value. We don’t support the idea that privatisation is the only way and we will not support it. We agreed that there are things we can do.
They will not privatise moribund assets, they look at the viable ones. The issue of NITEL, what they did was assets striping, including the Power holding. The assets were first stripped and sold and no value has been added. Check the steel rolling mills which were privatised. The first thing they did was shut down the place and sell off the assets. I don’t think we should continue in this light. We must be able to say no.
“We should not come and sell the idea here that privatisation has worked. If it has worked, why are the poverty capital of the world.
“Mr President is against the privatisation of some key facilities. When some of those policy documents were smuggled in and we raised the issue, he said no, he said he was not going to privatised health and education because it is a legacy he wants to leave for the children of the poor. So let us do the right thing. We have privatised power and yet, I still buy my transformer and no value has been added”.
He recalled that Nigerians were also exploited during the coming of GSM in Nigeria.
He said: “When this concept of having privatisation as the only way to enhance our economic development came up, we have always said that is not correct. From the beginning, we have engaged governments from Obasanjo to the current government. That was why Obasanjo said NLC should be a member of the Council. But for obvious reasons, NLC was alleniated. President Buhari also insisted that NLC should be part of the Council, but for NLC was substituted.
“If by now, we have privatised 234 Enterprises in Nigeria and we say that it is aimed at creating wealth and address the issue of poverty, yet we are the poverty capital of the world, then something is wrong with that policy. So, let us not come here and auger coat. Let us say it the way it is.
“The idea that GSM was privatised is wrong. Let us correct the narrative. There was a GSM revolution around the world and we keyed into it by killing NITEL. If you go to Britain now, you can still make calls using landline. In the process of bringing in that GSM, Nigerians were exploited. When GSM came into Nigeria, if you compare with other countries, we were exploited. That was not a process of privatisation. It was a process of allowing people come and invest in our economy.
“On the issue of ports, let me make the point that the same people anchoring privatisation were the same people who bought the ports. It was a process of taking our common wealth and handing them to few against the spirit and letters of the constitution especially section 16. So, it is wrong to say that the state has not business in business”, he said
The Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola also towed Wabba’s line of argument as other critical stakeholders were in sync with both key contributors at the hearing.
Fashola condemned the outright privatisation of the government outfit as those privatized so far are not working.
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Amendment of BPE Act Not To Usurp Regulatory Powers, Says Okoh
Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh has allayed fears of perceived usurpation of regulatory powers by the Bureau in the concession of public assets in the country.
Okoh who made this known in Abuja on Monday, October 25, 2021, at a public hearing organised by the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation of Government Assets against the backdrop of fears expressed by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission(ICRC) that the proposed amendment of the BPE Privatisation and Commercialisation Act 2004 to establish the Public Asset Reform Bill 2021was aimed at giving the BPE regulatory powers and whittling down the powers of the ICRC, emphatically said that the proposed Bill is only to improve efficiency and management of public assets in Nigeria.
The Director General maintained that the Bureau has never interfered in the regulatory powers of other sister agencies like the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission(NERC),National Communications Commission (NCC) and Pension Commission of Nigeria(PENCOM); and will not interfere in the regulatory functions of ICRC but collaborate with all regulatory agencies in the country in the discharge of its mandate.
Okoh stated that the footprints of the BPE’s reform activities were indelible on the Nigerian Economy, generating about N1 Trillion in the process and creating significant savings which otherwise would have been expended as subventions to subsidise sub optimal government enterprises.
He expressed the urgent need to pass the proposed Public Assets Reform Bill 2021to help unlock the much needed investments from the Private sector capable of bridging the infrastructure need of the country, stimulate economic growth, reduce the escalating debt burden and providing employment opportunities for unemployed Nigerian youth.
The BPE boss maintained that the Bill primarily seeks to: repeal the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act which has become obsolete with passage of time; Create a legislative instrument for the optimisation of stranded Assets of Government to unlock liquidity that will boost the dwindling revenues of the Federal Government; Creation of a National Assets Register which may be published annually to address the current infrastructure deficit in the county as well as enhance the capacity of the Bureau and the relevant committees of the National Assembly to carry out statutory legislative responsibilities of overseeing all assets of the nation.