awelekiti:
Of What use is an asset when it's full of looters and thieves? Till date, billions of naira realised from crude sale in 5 years is yet to be remitted into the federal government purse. Who's fooling who? This country is full of myopic minds who can't see beyond their nostrils. There's a difference between privatisation and selling. The national orientation agency has a lot of work to do in educating illiterate Nigerians what privatisation and selling actually mean.

Gboy101:
Nigerians need to be worried of atiku plan to sell Nigeria biggest assets. sentiments aparts I'm one of them that is supporting atiku but his recent remarks to sell of critical National assets and Nigeria biggest assets. the NNPC called for concerned. everyone should be worried is this why atiku have been fighting to become Nigeria president at all cost?

we need to watch out why atiku want is not talking about restructuring anymore. because we are seeing that his want to build rail and more roads. by this statement there won't be any different from atiku presidency. the same old northerners and former head of states will buy up these assets.

trillville:


I do not like Atiku as a person but his knowledge of economics and what is hampering Nigeria's development is on point. In fact of all the candidates including Ezekwesili and Sowore, Atiku is making the most economic sense.

Let me try to explain. Nigeria faces internal problems caused by our culture which focuses on tribalism and cronyism over competences. This stifles all areas of decision making in government instutions as most heads have one interest or the other that does not promote development.

Nigeria also faces external problems caused by our over dependence on crude oil sales which is a very volatile commodity with prices constantly swinging between 80 USD and 40 USD. We have bad leadership and at the same time an unreliable source of government revenue.

These issues have resulted in Nigeria becoming the country with the highest poverty rates and also the country with the highest number of out of school children in the world. That is, we are bleeped now, and we are still bleeped in the future.

From what I have read, Atiku plans to shift governments focus from mineral resources to human resources. This is very interesting because if you look at every region on earth, countries that focus on developing their people's productivity are always richer with higher quality of life than mineral resource rich countries. Even in Europe Sweden and Denmark are considered equal or better countries than Norway. In the middle East, many would argue that Israel is the richest of all the nations. Within the emirates of the UAE, Dubai with only 7 percent of that nations crude oil is considered much richer than the mineral rich ABU Dhabi.

In developed countries, the government provides quality primary and secondary school education for all of its people. It sees education as an externality, an economic good that benefits everyone in the country and not just the person getting the education. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was abandoned by his Syrian father, yet he built a 1 trillion dollar( about 3 times Nigeria's gdp) company. Without quality education, would there have been a Steve Jobs?

I am not saying that oil is not important to Nigeria's future, I am saying that tailors, cobblers, and factory workers are much more important to the growth of Nigeria and the reduction of poverty. This may sound strange to you but realise that it is only in Nigeria that a craftsman is a poor man.

Gboy101:
Nigerians need to be worried of atiku plan to sell Nigeria biggest assets. sentiments aparts I'm one of them that is supporting atiku but his recent remarks to sell of critical National assets and Nigeria biggest assets. the NNPC called for concerned. everyone should be worried is this why atiku have been fighting to become Nigeria president at all cost?

we need to watch out why atiku want is not talking about restructuring anymore. because we are seeing that his want to build rail and more roads. by this statement there won't be any different from atiku presidency. the same old northerners and former head of states will buy up these assets.

omohayek:

While Atiku says all the right things, the big question I have is whether he can be trusted to do all these things without slyly undermining them for his own benefit. For instance, what is to stop him selling off the privatized assets at a huge discount to shell companies controlled indirectly by him through cronies?

We've already seen how selling assets to under-capitalized local buyers with political connections can lead to disaster - just look at the power sector after GEJ sold it to local favorites who lacked the resources to meet their investment requirements. In addition there's Atiku's own shady track record with Halliburton and assorted schemes to consider. The man could easily follow in Suharto's footsteps by turning the entire country into the personal property of himself, his family and their hangers-on.

Buhari is utterly incompetent, and the economy has no serious hope of recovering while he remains in charge, but competence is of little use when possessed by thieves like Atiku and Saraki, another man whose sterling educational credentials have resulted in zero net benefit to his record of governance. If all it took to govern well were knowing the right things to do, Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe would have become a paradise instead of turning into the shithole he made it.

richidinho:


My brother the fault is from the press, Atiku should be mindfull of the media house he is granted interviews, what he said was privatize NNPC meaning the corporation will be managed by businessmen but pay some certain perentage to the govt

LordAdam16:


You guys continue to use the power sector privatization as the archetype of how not to privatize.

The power sector was unbundled to GENCOs, TCN, and DISCOs. The government retains control of TCN. The GENCOs are producing power that can't be taken up. Most of the DISCOs are okay. And only about 20% of the DISCOs are in poor shape. I'd take that as a success.

DISCOs were sold to local buyers because of local content. The entire proceeds from the sale of the generating and distributing components of PHCN was used to pay off the workers and certain debt profiles. The reason why the power sector is in limbo has very little to do with the sale. It was a competent process. We had an asset that had been run down for 50 years and you guys were expecting a magic wand or someone with a trailer load of money to resurrect it for the measly electricity rate we pay.

For crying out loud, check out how many times there's been a total system collapse this year alone. Does that sound like we gave the GENCOs prime assets? The TCN is still within government control and tasked with revamping the national grid. Since 2014, they've been running in circles. What gives you guys the confidence to believe that the DISCOs and GENCOs under civil servants wouldn't have had the same or worse outcome? They had 1960-2013 and added less than 3000MW. 5 years on, it's almost doubled but no let's crucify the private sector.

How is possible to be so dumb and out of touch. That's how the spare parts refineries would be sold, and when the private buyers are unable to get it past 65% efficiency as I expect it to knowing how badly it's been run for decades; people will start complaining. And conveniently forget the billions of dollars from public coffers spent on repairing them for decades.

Personally, I don't want the NNPC, NLNG or any performing asset to be sold. Primarily because the IOCs have burned Nigeria way too many times to entrust more control to them. For example, they drill oil and under-report the amount they drill, then pay us whatever they like. It's better for Nigerian civil servants and politicians to continue their merrymaking than for international companies to come dip their crooked hands.

However, for all the assets that cost us billions annually with nothing to show, they should be sold. Or donated if no one wants to buy.

-Lord

Gboy101:
Nigerians need to be worried of atiku plan to sell Nigeria biggest assets. sentiments aparts I'm one of them that is supporting atiku but his recent remarks to sell of critical National assets and Nigeria biggest assets. the NNPC called for concerned. everyone should be worried is this why atiku have been fighting to become Nigeria president at all cost?

we need to watch out why atiku want is not talking about restructuring anymore. because we are seeing that his want to build rail and more roads. by this statement there won't be any different from atiku presidency. the same old northerners and former head of states will buy up these assets.

Gboy101:
Nigerians need to be worried of atiku plan to sell Nigeria biggest assets. sentiments aparts I'm one of them that is supporting atiku but his recent remarks to sell of critical National assets and Nigeria biggest assets. the NNPC called for concerned. everyone should be worried is this why atiku have been fighting to become Nigeria president at all cost?

we need to watch out why atiku want is not talking about restructuring anymore. because we are seeing that his want to build rail and more roads. by this statement there won't be any different from atiku presidency. the same old northerners and former head of states will buy up these assets.

omohayek:

The only one "dumb and out of touch" here is you, with all your excuse-making for a shoddy privatization process. Deeper pocketed investors with extensive backgrounds in power-generation and distribution would have been able to afford to invest for several years without needing to see immediate returns, which would have enabled them - amongst others things - to transition from estimated billing to a system based on proper metering of individual customers. Instead, what we got, thanks to your palm-wine drunkard from Otuoke, is a bunch of small-scale operators who are now on their last legs after just a few years, and who lack the necessary funds to move to a billing system ordinary Nigerians will be willing to tolerate, let alone anything more ambitious.

The last thing Nigeria need is more of the same old nonsense: if public "assets" (which are all liabilities in my book) are to be sold - and I very much believe the whole damn lot should be - it ought to be on the basis of internationally open bidding, under fully transparent rules. What ordinary Nigerians need are well-capitalized corporations that can deliver on their missions at internationally-competitive levels, not the enrichment of a lucky few elite Nigerians who happen to have the right friends and relatives in power.

awelekiti:
Of What use is an asset when it's full of looters and thieves? Till date, billions of naira realised from crude sale in 5 years is yet to be remitted into the federal government purse. Who's fooling who? This country is full of myopic minds who can't see beyond their nostrils. There's a difference between privatisation and selling. The national orientation agency has a lot of work to do in educating illiterate Nigerians what privatisation and selling actually mean.

Roger3D:
Privatization means selling to private investors.

omohayek:

While Atiku says all the right things, the big question I have is whether he can be trusted to do all these things without slyly undermining them for his own benefit. For instance, what is to stop him selling off the privatized assets at a huge discount to shell companies controlled indirectly by him through cronies?

We've already seen how selling assets to under-capitalized local buyers with political connections can lead to disaster - just look at the power sector after GEJ sold it to local favorites who lacked the resources to meet their investment requirements. In addition there's Atiku's own shady track record with Halliburton and assorted schemes to consider. The man could easily follow in Suharto's footsteps by turning the entire country into the personal property of himself, his family and their hangers-on.

Buhari is utterly incompetent, and the economy has no serious hope of recovering while he remains in charge, but competence is of little use when possessed by thieves like Atiku and Saraki, another man whose sterling educational credentials have resulted in zero net benefit to his record of governance. If all it took to govern well were knowing the right things to do, Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe would have become a paradise instead of turning into the shithole he made it.

omohayek:

While Atiku says all the right things, the big question I have is whether he can be trusted to do all these things without slyly undermining them for his own benefit. For instance, what is to stop him selling off the privatized assets at a huge discount to shell companies controlled indirectly by him through cronies?

We've already seen how selling assets to under-capitalized local buyers with political connections can lead to disaster - just look at the power sector after GEJ sold it to local favorites who lacked the resources to meet their investment requirements. In addition there's Atiku's own shady track record with Halliburton and assorted schemes to consider. The man could easily follow in Suharto's footsteps by turning the entire country into the personal property of himself, his family and their hangers-on.

Buhari is utterly incompetent, and the economy has no serious hope of recovering while he remains in charge, but competence is of little use when possessed by thieves like Atiku and Saraki, another man whose sterling educational credentials have resulted in zero net benefit to his record of governance. If all it took to govern well were knowing the right things to do, Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe would have become a paradise instead of turning into the shithole he made it.

LordAdam16:


You just typed a load of horsesh*t. No company on the planet will spend money indefinitely on sub-prime assets in an absurdly-regulated electricity sector without even so much as a competent electricity grid. The proof is in the pudding, as most of the companies that have committed to build new generating plants from the scratch are indigenous and Chinese companies, not the non-existent famed international coys with supposed deep pockets who wouldn't touch shoddily managed plants with a ten foot pole even if their businesses depended on it.

For example Otedola in conjunction with BSG and Shanghai Municipal Electric Power bought Gereju I. After buying it, they called Siemens to upgrade the plant for $84m. How many Otedola's do we have in Nigeria without political connection? The problem I have with loud mouths like you is that you guys sit on your third-world toilet seat and think you understand what happens in the board rooms.

This is the same Otedola who owns Forte that used to be the government-owned AP. And btw, that same Siemens is one of the world's top 10 largest power companies, yet they only install plants in Nigeria and don't run or plan to run any. You think they're id*ots? Enel the world's second largest power company operates in only two countries in Africa--South Africa and Morocco. Are you going to compare the electricity sector of those two countries to the rubbish that is the defunct PHCN?

You think there is any company out there with a large war chest using mostly hard cash instead of bank credit for investing? No one will buy feces for the price of a diamond no matter how you package it. Eta-Zuma building the Itobe coal plant in Kogi is sourcing for $6b. Does that sound like a big scale operator to you?

The consultant for the project was an international firm. All buyers of generating plants were required to have international technical partners. All DISCOs were required to show proof of line of credit from local banks. Now you're typing trash like the BPP didn't oversee the process or it happened in your bedroom.

Stop typing like a market woman. If I ask you to list the exact problematic, non-performing buyers now, you'd start stammering. Don't reply me again if all you're going to type is drunken nonsense ignoramuses spout in beer parlors. It's not only small-scale operators, go and drag the big-scale operators now. When Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and North Africa offer so much promise, you think the "big-scale operators" will consider for a second to buy a run-down power plant or vandalized distribution network in a country where regulators are taking 3+ years to formulate policy on independent metering?

Look at this dunce talking about investing for several years without reasonable returns in the crappy Nigerian electricity sector for a business with profit margins of less than 5% in perfectly run systems. It seems you didn't take your meds today.

-Lord

Gboy101:
Nigerians need to be worried about atiku plan to sell Nigeria biggest assets. sentiments aparts I'm one of them that is supporting atiku but his recent remarks to sell of critical National assets and Nigeria biggest assets, the NNPC called for concerned. everyone should be worried is that why atiku have been fighting to become Nigeria president at all cost?

we need to watch out why atiku is not talking about restructuring anymore. because we are seeing that he want to build rail and more roads. by this statement there won't be any different from atiku presidency. the same old northerners and former head of states will buy up these assets.

grandstar:


I doubt it is the quality of assets that were up for sale that scared them off. If the privatization was truly transparent, at least a few would have been taken up by foreign companies considering their markets are not only stagnant but facing competition from subsidized green energy operators. A few would have picked up a few units even overpaying for them considering the massive unmet power needs of the country.

At least Manitoba power company from Canada was concessioned the transmission arm but some underhand matters seemed to have frustrated them.

trillville:


I do not like Atiku as a person but his knowledge of economics and what is hampering Nigeria's development is on point. In fact of all the candidates including Ezekwesili and Sowore, Atiku is making the most economic sense.

Let me try to explain. Nigeria faces internal problems caused by our culture which focuses on tribalism and cronyism over competences. This stifles all areas of decision making in government instutions as most heads have one interest or the other that does not promote development.

Nigeria also faces external problems caused by our over dependence on crude oil sales which is a very volatile commodity with prices constantly swinging between 80 USD and 40 USD. We have bad leadership and at the same time an unreliable source of government revenue.

These issues have resulted in Nigeria becoming the country with the highest poverty rates and also the country with the highest number of out of school children in the world. That is, we are bleeped now, and we are still bleeped in the future.

From what I have read, Atiku plans to shift governments focus from mineral resources to human resources. This is very interesting because if you look at every region on earth, countries that focus on developing their people's productivity are always richer with higher quality of life than mineral resource rich countries. Even in Europe Sweden and Denmark are considered equal or better countries than Norway. In the middle East, many would argue that Israel is the richest of all the nations. Within the emirates of the UAE, Dubai with only 7 percent of that nations crude oil is considered much richer than the mineral rich ABU Dhabi.

In developed countries, the government provides quality primary and secondary school education for all of its people. It sees education as an externality, an economic good that benefits everyone in the country and not just the person getting the education. Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, was abandoned by his Syrian father, yet he built a 1 trillion dollar( about 3 times Nigeria's gdp) company. Without quality education, would there have been a Steve Jobs?

I am not saying that oil is not important to Nigeria's future, I am saying that tailors, cobblers, and factory workers are much more important to the growth of Nigeria and the reduction of poverty. This may sound strange to you but realise that it is only in Nigeria that a craftsman is a poor man.

Kobicove:


I guarantee you Atiku will abandon the original plan once he wins, that's if he wins.

Still cannot be trusted!