The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has revealed it earmarked 42 transactions in different sectors for the year.
This was disclosed in a statement in Abuja on Friday by Mr Ibeh Chidi, Head, Public Communications, according to the News Agency of Nigeria.
He stated that the transactions are part of the 2022 work plan of the bureau, while also adding that the Senate Committee on Public Accounts has cleared the BPE of allegations of financial impropriety brought against the agency by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation.
What the BPE is saying about the projects
On projects for 2022 approved by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) chaired by Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the bureau said 11 were earmarked for the energy sector,10 in the Industries and Services sector, eight in the agriculture and natural services sector and 13 in the Infrastructure and Public Private Partnership (IPPP) sector.
“Rising from its first meeting for year 2022 after its inauguration, council also approved 2022 revenue and expenditure of the bureau, including the 2022 work plan risks and mitigation plans.
“It would be recalled that the BPE at the end of every year, carried out a post-mortem of its activities and achievements via-a-vis the current year’s work plan.
“It prepared a detailed work plan containing the deliverables and the cost and revenue estimates for the incoming year, for consideration and approval by the NCP,” Chidi said.
On the Senate clearing, BPE said the senate committee described the allegations as “spurious”, stating that the Office of the Auditor General did not reconcile its records before going public to accuse BPE of financial misdemeanour.
NAN reported that an investigation was launched by the Office of the Auditor General of the Federation against the BPE where it was discovered that 23 companies were granted concession at various ports under the NPA for 10 years and above, with annual rent accumulating to $679.4 million payable to the NPA as of December 31 of every year. The audit office stated that an audit showed that there was no evidence that the said amount was collected at the appropriate time and remitted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the government.
BPE stated that the Senate Committee after listening to the presentation by the DG, BPE and the inadequate response from the OAuGF, the committee exonerated the bureau from all the allegations, citing that on port concessions, the bureau was only a party to the concession as all revenues generated from the exercise were paid directly to the landlord – the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA)