The Nigerian Federal Government’s plan to commence the sell-off of several state-owned assets is geared at raising funds that will go towards financing the country’s expensive 2018 budget.
Come early October 2018, the Government will commence the sale of assets in ten state-owned corporations, a move that is expected to generate some ₦289 billion; about $797 million.
The Director of Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mr Joe Anichebe, disclosed this to Bloomberg over the weekend during an interview in Abeokuta. According to him, final preparations are being made to sell off the companies. Two of them – NICON Insurance Limited and Skyway Aviation Handling Co. (SAHCOL) – will be sold early October through an IPO, he said.
Back in June, President Muhammadu Buhari had appended his signature to an ambitious ₦9.1 trillion 2018 budget which it has since struggled to finance.
Meanwhile, the Government had in the past hinted at plans to fund the budget with money from other sources other than oil which is the country’s economic mainstay. To this effect, the Bureau of Public Enterprise made a commitment to the tune of ₦306 billion, most of which it is now trying to raise through the planned privatisations.
Recall that the Government last week divested about 21% of its shares in the Nigerian Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPM), a move that resulted in the realisation of the sum of ₦17.3 billion as Mr Anichebe disclosed.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises also disclosed that the agency will soon go after owners of previously-privatised public assets who have failed the terms and conditions of the deal.
In the meantime, the economy is underperforming
The poor implementation of the 2018 budget has not augured well for the Nigerian economy which recently emerged from a debilitating economic recession. To worsen this situation, a recent analysis by Nairametrics shows that the country has continued to gradually slip back into recession since Q1 2018 when the GDP declined by 1.95%.
Now as the Nigerian election season continues to approach fast, there are growing concerns that the present economic situation may become exacerbated due to huge spendings which may ultimately drive up inflation.
Mon dieu,maybe the govt is getting their act together,i hve just read senator shehu from kaduna state criticizes of the this selling of those govt companies,i implore senator shehu to see this sales from another angle on it’s benefit to the country.for one govt running companies wastes resources and skill and govt ,secondly govt can allocates some share reserve for civil servant or petty traders in batches 10,000 naira or 20,000 naira,also an economy requires some hea in some formt,so if the govt heats the economy a little,it will pushes the economy a little.
IPO mean those companies will be floated on the stock market,retailer and wholesalers investor can al participate in creating wealth in nigeria and africa also some with asset management or mutual fund will seeks to protects their investment,they will seeks seat at the board.big men and little men will makes money.
I have read Mr Buhari have veoted the nnpc bill passed by the nass,the reason given is that if the bill is signed by him,this law will erodes his power,can I ask will he be in power forever ?,this nnpc bill means that nnpc will be broken up,some of the component will be floated on the stock market,if so the fed govt still wants tocontrol the remaining nnpc.they can still eat their cake and having it by having controlling shares through the board by 50 % or 30%.
If this bill is passed,it will frees the fed govt from making any investment in nnpc e.g the joint venture.this remaining nnpc will finances it’s investment,even then oil subsidy will be removed easily,and govt will invest in human developement
what are the other assets that the government wants to sell off?