FG’s Privatization programme is a failed project —Abu

BY PETER DURU

A consultant to the defunct National Economic Intelligence Council, NEIC and former member of the National Working Committee of the ruling PDP, Dr James Abu has taken a swipe at the privatization programme of the Federal Government describing it as a failed project.

Abu urged President Goodluck Jonathan to take a closer look at the entire process with a view to reviewing it to enable the exercise become beneficial to the Nigerians.

Speaking to newsmen in Makurdi, the university don lamented that the process of privatization embarked upon by the previous administrations was skewed from the beginning of its implementation hence failed to meet the expectations of Nigerians especially as it relates to the revival of the sold companies.

The former Managing Director of Nigeria Paper Mill, Jebba, regretted that most of the privatised companies like the fertilizer blending plants, Car Assembly Plants, Paper Mills, Steel Rolling Mills and Textile companies have closed shop, leaving millions of Nigerians unemployed all because those who acquired them were not committed to revitalizing the organisations.

He said, “It is sad that these organizations were privatized but those who bought them failed to revitalize them for optimum performance as expected at the time of sale”.

“What we have littering across the nation are companies built with state funds but sold out to phony business men who have left the business enterprises worst than they met them”, he added

“We thank God that our refineries have not been sold off to these business men because we would have been weeping today, all they would have done was to cripple the refineries while they continue to import petroleum products and ask Nigerians to pay international price for such products”.

“That explains why several years after licenses have been issued to them to establish private refineries across the country, none has shown commitment to doing so, it is sad”, he added.

Abu argued that the objectives for which previous administrations embarked on the privatisation of government-owned firms have not yielded the desired results because the process was lacking in transparency and due process.

He called on President Goodluck Jonathan to ensure that the Federal Government retrieve the moribund companies sold to private owners who had failed to revive them and appoint new managements to revive such companies to grow the economy and create employment opportunities for Nigerians who have been badly hit by the collapse of such firms.

“The Federal Government should take over all the privatised companies that have remained moribund after the fruitless sales and set up managements to run them.”

The speed at which these companies were sold to ill prepared persons was responsible for their failed condition today”.

The founding member of the ruling PDP pointed out that privatization has never succeed in an economy where the people are very poor, “who would want to invest in the future when he can hardly feed himself today. That is why the process must be taken gradually in order to make a huge success out of it”, he added.