TheCable

Acting President Yemi Osinbajo on Thursday inaugurated the fifth council of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP).

According to Chukwuma Nwokoh, head, public communications of  Bureau of Public and Eterprises (BPE), the acting president described the inauguration of the NCP as a critical step in achieving the socio-economic agenda of the current administration.

He said it was a demonstration of the Buhari administration’s commitment to public sector reform.

“It is also a demonstration of our administration’s commitment to public sector reform and the central role of the national council on privatisation (NCP) in this process,” Osinbajo said.

“Even though the public sector has been at the centre stage in the provision of critical infrastructure and services cutting across the whole spectrum of the nation’s life since independence, the emerging importance and centrality of the private sector to the actualisation of the economic agenda of the administration cannot be down played.

“In return, the government expects the NCP to come up with creative out-of-the box solutions for addressing the numerous challenges facing the privatisation and commercialisation programme such as non-performance by some privatised enterprises and post-privatisation challenges facing some of the privatised enterprises.

“The government also expects the NCP to make measurable progress in respect of the outstanding transactions affecting some of the areas critical to the economic recovery of the nation.  You must make deliberate and conscious efforts to learn from past experiences and guard against avoidable mistakes of the past.”

According to him, a major reform the NCS has undertaken is the power which is still ongoing.

He said although there are numerous challenges trailing the process, the NCP would come up with solutions would make power available to Nigerians.

“A mega reform process in the power sector is ongoing with ambitious expectations. Although, there are numerous challenges trailing the process, the NCP is expected to critically analyse these challenges and come up with sustainable solutions as part of government commitment to make power available at accelerated rates and to wide sections of the populace,” he said.

On his part, Alex Okoh, director-general of BPE, said the bureau would do what is required of it as it pursues its mandate of reforming public enterprises.

“We believe that regulatory agencies and commissions should manage regulatory compliance and not get involved in process as transactions managers or operators as this will clearly create confusion and possible conflict,” Okoh said.

The NCP has Osinbajo as its chairman and Kemi Adeosun, minister of finance, as vice-chairman.

Abubakar Malami, attorney-general of the federation (AGF), and Okechukwu Enelamah, minister of Industry, trade and investment, are members.