By Tony Obiechina, ABUJA
The next phase of the Federal Government’s Privatization Program will now focus on Public Private Partnerships (PPP), the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh, has disclosed.
Okoh who stated this when he received a Word Bank delegation led by the Senior Economist (Economics and Private Sector Development), Mr. Volker Treichel which visited the Bureau’s head office in Abuja said this was aimed at correcting the infrastructural deficit in the country. .
He noted that the country’s infrastructure gap is huge, pointing out that it is estimated that Nigeria needs to invest more than USD Three Trillionin the next 30 years to bridge the gap; and average of $100 billion per annum for the next 6 years.
According to a press statement by BPE’s Head of Public Communication, Amina Othman, the Director General who was, represented by Director, Infrastructure and Public Private Partnership Department of the Bureau, Mallam Sanusi Sule, said the new phase targets reforms mostly in the utility and infrastructure sectors which include; water resources, railways airports and highways.
He explained that the need for refocusing on PPP was borne out of the increasing budgetary constraints to fund the development of new infrastructure and effectively maintain existing ones; deteriorating infrastructure (dilapidated roads, schools, hospitals etc); higher public expectations in terms of efficiency and effectiveness of infrastructure service delivery.
According to him, the country’s infrastructure stock was too low for any meaningful development and that “the public sector cannot afford to provide the resources required to bridge the huge infrastructural gap”.
He added that the most feasible option is to attract private sector investments and the Bureau is working assiduously with key stakeholders to come up with a robust framework and process for implementing and managing PPPs in the country.
Leader of the delegation, Mr. Volker Treichel said the visit was part of the World Bank private sector diagnostic assessment of the Public sector in Nigeria.
He said the Bank was also looking for opportunities to provide short term assistance to the Bureau in the next three years
