Nigeria Opens
Its Doors To Strategic Investors“The privatization programme will be conducted in a transparent, accountable and comprehensive manner, as it holds the key for reviving our public utilities and engendering foreign investors’ confidence, in the direction we want to move the economy. The business and international community are making privatization an acid test of our seriousness at taking bold policy reform measures. We must act quickly and decisively.”
Nigeria, the giant of Africa is on the march again. This time with a bold privatization policy aimed at enhancing operational efficiency and economic viability of her public utilities.
Nigeria Opens
Its Doors To Strategic Investors
As part of this policy, the Federal Government will privatize its investments in Telecommunications, Electricity, Petroleum refineries, petro-chemicals, coal and bitumen production, tourism, and spill-overs from the first phase of privatization including banks and cement plants.
Under this new privatization programme, the Nigerian Federal Government will retain 40% of the equities of the affected enterprises whilst 40% will be alienated to strategic investors with the right technical, financial and management capacities. The remaining 20% will be sold to the Nigerian public through the Stock Exchange.
The programme has been broken into three phases. Phase I, which is expected to be completed by December 1999, will involve the completion of the privatization of government holdings in commercial and merchant banks, and cement plants already quoted on the stock market. Phase II will involve the privatization of government holdings in hotels and vehicle assembly plants. The final Phase, which is expected to take place between the year 2000 and 2001 will involve the privatization of electricity supply, telecommunication, petroleum refineries, the national fertilizer plant, and the Nigeria Airways.
Invitation
To Participate
The National Council on Privatization (NCP) is giving an open invitation to World Class Consultants, as advisers, in the identification and selection of Core Investors. The Advisers will support the NCP secretariat, The Bureau of Public Enterprises – BPE – in the process of selecting core investors for consideration by the Federal Executive Council.
The NCP also invites application from potential Core Investors, who are required to submit their expressions of interest to invest in specific public enterprises. Potential Core Investors will be supplied copies of laws and regulations on the privatization process, as well as an information memorandum on specific enterprises. Thereafter, they will be giving specific period within which to undertake due diligence studies on the subject enterprise in order to submit economic bids for evaluation by the NCP.
Enquiries
For more information on the privatization programme, please contact:
The Member/Secretary
National Council on Privatization
Secretariat: Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE)
NDIC Building (First Floor),
Plot 447/448 Constitution Avenue,
Central Business District,
P.M.B. 442, Garki – Abuja, Nigeria,
Tel: 09-5237405, 5237401, 5237397 Fax: 09-5237396
E-mail: bpegen@micro.com.ng
To see Phase II of the Privatisation Programme, please follow the link below