Vice -President and Chairman of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP), Arc. Mohammed Namadi Sambo has commended the competence and technical know-hows of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) staff over the successful privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria and the Nigerian Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) alongside its mobile arm-Mtel.
He expressed his satisfaction while receiving the management team of the BPE led by the Director-General, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki during a valedictory meeting with the out-going NCP Chairman at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Vice President Sambo noted that the successful completion of the transactions was also a testimony to their dedication to duty.
He said he was proud of the BPE management and staff, noting that it was because of their cooperation and expertise that the NCP under his tenure was able to result in various sectors of the economy in the course of implementing the Reforms and Privatization programme of the Federal Government.
He enjoined the team to give its total support to his successor; Professor Yemi Osibajo to enable him continue to achieve the objectives of the Reforms and Privatization programme.
Earlier in his remarks, Director General of the BPE, Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki said as the secretariat of the NCP, BPE enjoyed a very harmonious working relationship with the NCP Chairman and his advisers during his five years of leadership.
Mr. Dikki said, “we hold your Excellency in high esteem and cherish your dynamic leadership; vision, humanness and humility. We appreciate the dynamic way you directed the privatization of the power sector especially your intervention at critical times when there were impediments to the expeditious conclusion of the transactions.
An example was when you gave the marching order to all the parties to the power transaction documents to sign them in a week. This facilitated the timely conclusion of the transaction. Your insistence that parties must follow to the letter the contents of the RFP and exhibiting the highest political will saw, saw to the successful conclusion of the power transaction”.
The DG acknowledged the innovation the out-going Chairman brought to the BPE. Some of these were the creation of the Legal Committee and other sub-committees that enhanced transparency. So also the involvement of security agencies like the State Security Services (SSS), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) to monitor transaction processes, that greatly improved the credibility of the programme.
There is Project Delivery Teams (PDTs) approach to reforms that utilized the in-house skills and professional competence of BPE staff and relevant Ministries and MDAs.This, the DG said, has besides improving the competences of all government personnel involved, also saved government millions of naira by reducing the need to use external consultants. This initiative resulted in the presentation to NCP at its last meeting of the draft Tourism sector policy and Bill which were approved. There are similar initiatives ongoing for the housing, development finance and sports sector among others.
He noted that the out-going Chairman’s sense of patriotism and appreciation of issues helped the Bureau to navigate and surmount all the challenges in its transactions, adding that “despite your busy schedule our memos never delayed on your desk”.
The DG also thanked the Deputy Chief of Staff (DCOS) who was the engine room of the Vice-President’s Office and also all the advisers and staff in the VP’s office for all the support the Bureau received from them.
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