37% of 142 privatised Nigerian firms are dying – BPE

shakirudeen taiwo

February 21, 2018 10:11 AM

Two in every five companies privatised by Nigerian government are currently not performing.

The Bureau of Public Enterprises has revealed that 52 (32 percent) of the 142 enterprises privatised are about dying.

The Director-General of the bureau, Mr Alex Okoh, disclosed this on Thursday, February 15, 2018, in Abuja during the visitation of members of the House of Representatives Committee on Privatisation.

Okoh said the Bureau has privatised 142 public enterprises since its inception in 2014, and 52 of them are currently not performing. He also said only 94 of these companies are currently being monitored by the agency.

“…out of the 142 enterprises, 94 have been monitored while the rest have not been monitored. Because some were either assets sale or in the first phase of privatisation, and as such did not fall within the BPE’s monitoring purview,” he said.

Okoh attributed this poor performance to the difficult business environment of the country. He said this has made many businesses to either close down or move their operation to neighbouring African countries.

A breakdown of the 142 privatised companies shows 63 were sold to new investors, nine through guided liquidation and one was sold to existing shareholders. Five were made public companies and two through liquidated.

Also, 8 were privatised through private placement, 41 concessioned, 2 companies went through debt/equity swap and 11 disposed through assets sales.

shakirudeen taiwo

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