Only 63 Percent Of Privatised Enterprises Are Performing, BPE

BPE DG, Okoh

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has disclosed that out of the 142 enterprises so far privatised, 63 percent are performing.

Receiving members of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation, led by its Chairman, Alhaji Ahmed Yerima who were on an oversight visit to the Bureau in Abuja, the Director General of BPE, Alex Okoh said out of the number, 94 enterprises were being monitored.

He said the rest were not being monitored because “some were either assets sale or in the first phase of privatization and as such did not fall   within the BPE’s monitoring purview”.

Okoh further explained that out of the privatised enterprises, 63 percent of them were doing well while the remaining 37 percent are not performing.

In a statement by the Bureau’s head of public communications, Amina Othman, the Director General attributed the poor performances of the non-performing enterprises to the operating business environment in the country in which many private or privatised public enterprises have either closed down or relocated to neighbouring countries.

Out of the 142 privatised enterprises, the Director General said, 63 were through core investor sale, nine through guided liquidation, one through   sale to existing shareholders, five through public offer and two, through liquidation.

He added that eight were privatised  through private placement, 41 through concession, two through debt/equity swap and 11 through sale of assets.

Breaking down the enterprises by sectors, the Director General said, five  were in the agric machanisation,eight in automobiles, seven in banking and insurance, six in brick making and six in the cement sector.

The others, he listed are 10 in energy construction & services,12 in hotels &tourism, eight in oil & gas, four in paper & packaging, 19 in solid minerals & mining, 7 in steel & aluminum, four in the sugar sector, 26 in marine transport sector, 19 in power and one in telecoms.

The BPE helmsman informed the lawmakers that the Bureau has commenced a thorough review of the non-performing enterprises to ascertain the issues affecting their non- performance.

He listed the new initiatives embarked upon by the Bureau to include; the Afam Power & Yola Distribution Company privatisation, concessioning of the Terminal B of the Warri old Port, restructuring and commercialization of the Bank of Agriculture (BOA), partial commercialisation of NIPOST, restructuring and commercilaisation of the 12 River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs), reform and commercialisation of three of the nation’s national parks and other initiatives in the power sector.

Earlier, Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation, Alhaji Ahmed Yerima had said that the Committee was at the Bureau to have first hand information on its activities; and to ascertain its compliance with the provisions of the 2017 Appropriation Act in line with the resolution of the House that all Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) complied with the Act.

The Chairman assured that the Committee would use its legislative powers to ensure that BPE’s mandate is not usurped by MDAs, adding that any attempt in that direction was an infraction on the constitution of the country.