Vice President Kashim Shettima has implored new members of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to station themselves on the frontline of actualising the renewed hope agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.
The Council members, according to him, must do this by championing great reforms through disruptive minds and ideas, even as he noted that every great reform commences with a disruptive thinker, which he said the President symbolises.
The Vice President who said this on Friday while inaugurating the newly constituted NCP at Presidential Villa in Abuja, said President Tinubu’s choice of the Council’s membership is a reminder of what it can achieve with fresh ideas.
Noting that membership of the Council is as crucial as its mission, VP Shettima who is also Chairman of the Council observed that the diverse talents and great depth of experience of persons approved as members of the Council by President Tinubu speak volume of their ability to deliver.
Shettima reminded members of the Council that their appointment is a privilege to serve the nation by contributing to the socio-economic development the Tinubu administration has promised to deliver.
He urged them not to rest on their oars in “ensuring accelerated growth of the economy, providing infrastructure, creating jobs, and providing an enabling environment for productive activities to flourish”, as they leverage on the nation’s enormous resources for the benefit of Nigerians.
The Vice President pointed out that their duty is to execute the statutory responsibilities of the Council in line with the Public Enterprises (Privatization and Commercialization) Act 1999.
He listed the Council’s objectives to include “approving policies on privatization and commercialization, approving guidelines and criteria for the valuation of public enterprises and choice of strategic investors, approving the prices for shares or assets of the public enterprises to be offered for privatization, approving the legal and regulatory framework for the reform of public enterprises.”
Others are “reviewing, from time to time, the socio-economic effect of the privatization and commercialization program and deciding on appropriate remedies, appointing committees comprising persons from the private and public sectors with requisite technical competence to advise on the privatization and commercialization of specific public enterprises.”
Minister of Finance and Vice Chairman of the Council, Edun, thanked the Chairman of the Council, Vice President Shettima, for inaugurating the Council.
Edun noted that a cursory look at the 2024 appropriation bill and budget estimate indicate that privatization is among areas the government is relying on to fund the budget and grow the economy.
