Mrs. Irene Chigbue, director - general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), has said that the Bureau has presented nine draft bills to the National Assembly which when passed, would create a conducive environment for the privatized public enterprises to thrive.
Chigbue who declared that Nigerians will soon reap benefits of the country’s privatization programme, pointed out that as at today over 250 hitherto government owned enterprises had been privatized and were all doing well.
She spoke when a delegation of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led by Hon. Mbakwe Obi, deputy national legal adviser, visited the Bureau on a fact-finding and to familiarize themselves with the BPE’s activities in Abuja stated that BPE was working quietly to realize its mandate and soon, skeptics and cynics of the programme would see the dividend.
She told them that in five years time, Nigerians would begin to enjoy the benefits of the exercise which is now an acceptable norm the world over, adding that management of the privatization exercise was humble and quiet in the execution of its assignment.
According to her, the privatization programme had been on for sometime but peaked in 1999 when the Olusegun Obasanjo government gave it a new impetus with the injection of new dimensions into it, recalling that the exercise has taken roots in telecommunications, oil and gas as well as the service sector like hotels and that more than 90 percent of government owned concerns are now in the hands of the private sector.
Chigbue stated that government owned enterprises were a drain on the government, provided less employment and were dogged with epileptic services as evidenced in air transportation and the telecommunications sector.
She said before enterprises are privatized, they go through reforms as evidenced in the power and transport sector.
Leader of the delegation, Mbakwe Obi who said they were propelled to visit the Bureau because of the reports making round noted that the delegation was overwhelmed by the transformation the Bureau has been able to bring to bear on the privatized enterprises, appealing to the management not to be distracted by petitions as it goes prove that the management was working.
Obi while noting that most of the petitions against the BPE were frivolous, borne out of malice and largely from those who lost out of the privatization programme, stressed that "With the caliber of management staff which cuts across all the geo-political zones of the country, I am proud to say that you are doing a wonderful job. Don’t be distracted by petitions. It goes to confirm that you are working. Don’t panic and don’t loose focus"
