FG: 15 Public Enterprises Fail To Remit N8.1trn In 5yrs
The Federal Government has said 15 public enterprises failed to remit a total of N8.1trn between 2010 and 2015.
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who disclosed this in Lagos, yesterday, said public enterprises had failed the government despite it’s N300 billion investment on them.
Alhaji Mohammed added that the firms consumed a large proportion of resources without providing commensurate services.
“They failed to allocate their resources effectively, even consumed over $100 billion annually by way of grant, subsidies, import duty waivers and tax exemption,” he said
He said the government opted to privatize the firms due to their failure to make profit.
Meanwhile, the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE), yesterday, announced the extension of sale of Yola Electricity Distribution Company (YEDC) and 979MW Afam Power Plant to January 2019.
According to the BPE’s Director General Mr. Alex Okoh, the bureau had estimated to reach financial close for the sale of electricity company and electricity generation company by November 2018 but that due to delay in the appointment of transaction advisers and other logistics challenges, the new timeline for the sale is now January 2019.
The consortium of investors who bought YEDC in September, 2013, led by Integrated Energy and Distribution Management Services, declared a force majeure on the firm in 2015. Subsequently, BPE received approval from the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), to re-sell the company alongside two thermal power generation plants.
Speaking in Lagos yesterday, Okoh said the bureau would do everything possible to ensure the company and power plants are acquired by experienced investors in order not to repeat the previous mistakes.
He noted that the bureau has committed to support the Federal Government’s 2018 budget of N8.612 trillion with N300 billion through the sale of government’s assets, adding that about eight companies have been slated for sale between now and the first quarter of 2019.
He listed some of the companies whose shares will be offered for sale to include SACOL, Re-Insurance, Eleme Petrochemical and Bank of Agriculture.
Okoh said: “We are in the process of offering the shares of SACOL for sale through an IPO and that will be opened in the next 30 days.
“SACOL was sold 100 per cent to the current core investors but there is provincial agreement that guaranteed that in five years post sale, certain percentage of the company’s shares should be offered to the general public”, he said.
