Key highlights:
- The previous Concession Agreement was terminated by the NCP in 2017 due to the failure of Aulic Nig. Ltd to meet the concession agreement.
- The tripartite agreement was signed with Portman Freight Services Limited and LITFC.
- BPE says standardisation of lease agreements would ultimately increase the earnings of the LITFC and the Federal Government in particular.
Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) announced it has signed a tripartite agreement to commence the re-concession of the Lagos International Trade Fair Complex (LITFC).
This was disclosed in a statement by the BPE’s Head of Public Communications, Amina Tukur, in Abuja on Monday.
BPE noted that the tripartite agreement with Portman Freight Services Limited and LITFC would enable the lease of a portion of the complex to the freight service company.
Tripartite Agreement
The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) Director-General of BPE Alex Okoh said that the event marked the commencement of work on the portion of Parcel A and B that was not designated for concession.
He added that the standardisation of lease agreements would ultimately increase the earnings of the LITFC and the Federal Government in particular, which he says is in line with the Privatisation and Commercialisation Act (1999), the National Council on Privatization (NCP) approved the concession of LITFC to Aulic Nigeria Limited in 2007.
Re-Concession
Okoh revealed that a previous Concession Agreement was terminated by the NCP in 2017 due to the failure of Aulic Nig. Ltd to meet covenants listed in the concession agreement, urging that the BPE has been ordered to recommence the process of re-concession of the complex.
He noted that in the process of carrying out the concession plan, it was discovered Portman Freight Services Limited had an existing 20-year lease agreement for Hall 4 with the former concessionaire (Aulic Nig. Ltd).
- ” The management board of LITFC repossessed the enterprise from Aulic Nigeria Limited.
- ” The BPE immediately recommenced the process of re-concession of the LITFC as directed by the NCP on behalf of the Federal Government with the call for Expression of Interest (EOIs) on Monday, June 20, 2022.”
- “This existing 20-year lease agreement was before the termination of Aulic’s Concession by the NCP in August 2017.”
Backstory
The BPE disclosed last September a road map to review and implement strategies for the resuscitation of ailing enterprises in Nigeria.
Alex Okoh inaugurated the four Technical Working Groups (TWGs) to review the roadmap for the FG. He noted that 16% of the privatized companies were non-performing
The BPE Chief noted that the TWGs were inaugurated for the Automobile, Housing (Bricks and Clay), Mines, and Steel as well as Oil Palm sectors.
He said the initiative was in consonance with the ease of doing business in Nigeria and in line with the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP).
OKoh added that the event was a culmination of the efforts by various stakeholders which started in 2018 to revive non-performing privatized enterprises in the country, citing that the BPE in discharging its supervisory duties on privatized enterprises through the instrumentality of Result-Based Monitoring and Evaluation (RBME), discovered that about 16% of the privatized companies were non-performing.
