By Tony Obiechina Abuja
Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Alex A. Okoh has pledged the Bureau’s willingness to deploy its expertise and technical knowhow to assist the Benue State Government in its drive for privatisation, commercialisation, Public Private Partnership (PPP) and other economic reforms to accelerate the state’s economic development.
The Director General made the pledge during a courtesy visit on behalf of the Benue State Government by the State’s Commissioner for Finance, Mr. David Olofu to the Bureau headquarters in Abuja.
Okoh noted that the BPE as the economic reform agency of the Federal Government had in the past, provided similar support to the other states in the country.
He added that the Bureau had reformed many sectors of the Nigerian economy, including ports, financial institutions, power, pension and the telecoms sector.
According to him, the Bureau mandated by the Public Enterprise (Privatisation and commercialisation) Act of 1999 has been empowered to play active role in the entrenchment of the use of Public Private Partnership (PPP) model in the delivery of infrastructure development and assets optimization in Nigeria.
He commended the Benue State Government for the initiative to incentivise private sector participation in the economy of the state by inaugurating an 8-member Council on Privatisation and Commercialisation.
Okoh added that the initiative is capable of attracting private sector capital inflow into the state and reduce government spending thereby freeing more funds for other developmental projects in the state.
The Commissioner thanked the Director General and the Management of the Bureau for the willingness to work closely with the State government to promote private sector participation in the state economic reform programmes.
