THE Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) has announced plans to list two electricity distribution companies (DisCos) and one generation company (GenCo) on Nigerian Exchange Limited.
The BPE also informed of an ongoing arrangement to privatise 91 government enterprises.
The ICIR reports that listing a company in the Nigerian Exchange Limited offers numerous benefits which include access to capital, increased visibility, diversified shareholder base, improved corporate governance, and enhanced credibility.
The Director General of BPE, Ayodeji Gbeleyi, made these remarks during a press briefing in Abuja on Tuesday, September 2.
According to him, the move became necessary to attract investment into the sector.
He, however, did not mention the names of the agencies to be listed on NGX and privatised.
Of the enterprises earmarked for privatisation or commercialisation, 16 are in the oil and gas sector, including refineries; 12 operate in agriculture; 20 in aviation; and 28 are in other public enterprises.
“There are 91 public enterprises that are still outstanding within the purview of the Public Enterprises Act. You may want to know the estimated values and why we want to sell,” Gbeleyi said.
Nigeria’s power sector has been unable to manage its liquidity crisis despite numerous supports from global lending institutions comprising mainly of the World Bank and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
Despite privatisation in 2013, the Nigerian government did not stop intervening financially in the power sector, with recent pledge to settle N4 trillion owed generation and distribution companies a case in point.
The ICIR reported that the World Bank has been supporting Nigeria’s power sector through the Power Sector Recovery Programme (PSRP), which has seen about $500 million lent to support the ailing sector.
Besides, a discussion on $1.5 billion loan is ongoing between the global bank and the Nigerian government for the sector to address metering access and improving power infrastructure.
Harrison Edeh is a journalist with the International Centre for Investigative Reporting, always determined to drive advocacy for good governance through holding public officials and businesses accountable.