BY ONYEKA AJUMOBI ONOCHIE
The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh, has rolled out transaction plans for the year 2020 pegging it at 19.
Okoh made this known when he received members of the Senate Committee on Privatization and Commercialization led by its Chairman, Chief Theodore A. Orji, who were on oversight visit to the Bureau,saying the transactions would be carried out IN diverse sectors including the health, education, energy and other sectors of the Nigerian economy.
According to him, the transactions are expected to impact on the Nigerian economy, especially in the areas of infrastructure development, improved power generation and supply, food security and job creation.
He expressed the Bureau’s willingness to work closely with members of the committee to ensure that BPE delivers on it mandate for the benefit of the nation.
Okoh listed some of the challenges facing the privatisation agency in the discharge of its mandate to include, budgetary constraints, non- enactment of some important reform Bills (e.g National Transport Commission Bill, Roads Bill, etc), overlapping mandate between BPE and ICRC on concession and Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) projects and economic policy.
Responding, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Privatization and Commercialization expressed delight at the oversight visit, stating that the committee had been anxious to visit the Bureau to know about privatization and other reform activities of BPE.
He pledged the Committee’s commitment to work with the Bureau to overcome the challenges mitigating the privatization programme of the Federal Government so as to deliver the benefits to the Nigerian populace.