The federal government earned the sum of N251.5 billion only as gross proceeds from the sale of 122 public enterprises since 1999, the director-general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Benjamin Dikki, has revealed.

Dikki, who made this disclosure in Abuja at the weekend while delivering a paper entitled “The Federal Government’s Privatization And Economic Reform Programme” at the maiden annual lecture of Just

Friends Club Of Nigeria, also revealed that, of the N251.5 billion, only N147 billion net proceeds has been remitted to the Privatisation Proceeds Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

Dikki listed some of the privatised enterprises to include Eleme Petrochemical Company which, he said, has now been revitalised and is producing at over 90 per cent capacity. Others include Benue Cement Company, Ashaka Cement Company, West African Portland Cement Company, Okomu Oil Palm, Savannah Sugar Company, NAHCO, and Federal Palace Hotel.

He also stated that plans to privatise the refineries were still on, noting that government halted the process to engage labour and reach an understanding of how the privatisation would be structured. He said approval has been given for labour to be part of the Privatisation Steering Committee to be chaired by the minister of petroleum resources.

He said: “If labour agrees with us today, we will start the process of advertising for a transaction adviser who will conduct a study on the industry and come up with recommendation on what privatisation model the steering committee will adopt.

“Right now, Eleme Petrochemical requires the by-product of refining for its production, but it’s not getting enough because the refineries are not producing at optimal level. There are 10 to 15 industries that can spring up from the by-product of refining and they will create employment. Government believes it is imperative that these refineries are privatised and that the Petroleum Industry Bill (PIB) is expeditiously passed.

“Once the PIB is passed it will aggregate all the regulatory powers in one institution. Currently, the regulatory powers are dispersed amongst the Ministry of Petroleum, the NNPC, the PPPRA and DPR and that becomes a jungle for any business man to navigate. Regulatory impediment must be removed and that’s why we are appealing to the National Assembly to pass the current version of the PIB,” Dikki stated.

The federal government earned
the sum of N251.5 billion only as
gross proceeds from the sale of 122
public enterprises since 1999,