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Nigeria’s Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), on Friday in Abuja
announced that President Goodluck
Jonathan has approved the
privatisation of the nation’s four refineries.
The Head of Public
Communications of BPE, Mr Chigbo Anichebe quoted the President as
saying that privatisation of the refineries was in keeping with the
economic reform programme of his administration.
“This is in
keeping with the transformation agenda, which seeks to catalyse and
provide an enabling environment for the private sector to be the drivers
of economic growth in the country.’’
The four refineries are
Port Harcourt Refining Company Ltd. (PHRC) I, Port Harcourt Refining
Company Ltd. (PHRC) II, Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd.
(KRPC) and Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company Ltd. (WRPC).
The labour unions under the oil sector have all kicked against the planned privatisation of the refineries.
A
statement by Chigbue also said that the President similarly approved
the constitution of a Steering Committee consisting of stakeholders from
relevant ministries and agencies for the privatisation process.
According to the statement, the Steering Committee will advise the
National Council on Privatisation (NCP), headed by Vice President,
Namadi Sambo on the best way to privatise the refineries.
“The
committee will review the diagnostic reports and recommendations of the
transaction advisors and make recommendations to the NCP, propose
modalities and make recommendations on labour matters to ensure a
successful privatisation.
“They will also oversee the general
process, make recommendations, carryout any other ancillary activities
relevant to the attainment of the goals of the Federal Government in the
privatisation of the nation’s refineries,’’ it said.
The Steering Committee is chaired by the Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.
Other
members of the committee are the Minister of Finance and Coordinating
Minister of the Economy, the Minister of Power, Minister of Labour, the
Minister of National Planning, Minister of Mines and Steel Development
and Minister of Justice.
The chairman of the Extractive Sub
Committee of NCP, Special Adviser to the Vice President on Economy,
Group Managing Director of NNPC and Director General of BPE were named
as members.
The Group Executive Director (Refineries), NNPC, the
Managing Directors of the refineries are also members while the Director
of Oil and Gas Department, BPE, will act as Secretary of the committee.
The Director General of the BPE, Mr Benjamin Dikki, pledged the commitment of committee in carrying out the exercise.
“The directives we have is to conduct the privatisation process
transparently, complying with due process and international best
practice. We are expected to improve on the high standards set in the
power sector transaction, which has received accolades all over the
world as being very transparent,” he said.
Dikki added that
further details on the transaction structure and time table would be
announced after the Steering Committee’s inaugural meeting.
The
refineries were first privatised in 2007 by the Obasanjo administration,
but public outcry against the sale made the government cancel the deal
and refund the money of the buyers.
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