Dikki says BPE is enabling FDI inflow, commends GOCOP launch

ITRealms:

The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Ezra Dikki, has commended the formal launch of the Guild of Corporate Online Publishers (GOCOP) just as his office is enabling inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) into the country, reports ITRealms.

Speaking at the launch of GOCOP in Lagos at the weekend, Mr. Dikki also said BPE has laid the foundation for enabling foreign direct investment in the country through privatization and commercialization.

“No doubt, the launch of GOCOP could not have come at a better time than now, given that the world over, online publication has become the vogue; and Nigeria cannot afford to be left behind,” he said.

BPE, he said, thus commends GOCOP bold initiative to inaugurate the Guild which undoubtedly, is made up of reputable media practitioners with several years of experience with the primary objective of ensuring that online publishers in Nigeria uphold the tenets of journalism and to serve as a platform for peer review.

He pointed out that the Bureau as the secretariat for the policy implementation arm of the National Council on Privatization (NCP) chaired by His Excellent, the Vice Presidency is focused on reform and privatization.

“In this regard, at the beginning of every year, the Bureau takes its work plan to Council for approval before implementation. It should be noted that in over three decades, reform and privatization have been a key economic policy of successive administrations as regards in Nigeria,” he said.

As a result of the reforms, privatisation and commercialization, Dikki said, Nigeria has witnessed tremendous inflow of foreign direct investments in various sectors of the economy.

“It is worthy to note that the advent of democratic governance since 1999, strong foundation were laid for economic reform and attraction of private capital to the national economy,” he said.

The government, he said, believes that the effective implementation of the proposed reform programmes will attract private capital; reduce government and political interference in the running of the economy; and clearly define role and functions of participants in the economy.

He recalled that the improved telephony which the nation is presently enjoying is a result of such reforms in the sector which produced the Telecom Policy and Legal/Regulatory framework which the NCP/BPE championed in 2000.

“Through the reforms carried out in the telecommunications sector, Nigeria has moved from about 400,000 telephone lines in 2001 to about 134 million lines in 2015; and the teledensity has increased from estimated 2.5 per cent to 95 percent in a space of 12 years,” Dikki said.

Describing inauguration of GOCOP as another eloquent testimony of the successful reform of the telecommunication sector, given that its main stead is on technologies. 

“And the same multiplier effect is expected when the reforms in other sectors of the economy by the federal government are completed,” he said and congratulated GOCOP on this milestone.

+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ITRealms DSA  
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BPE commences privatisation process for BoI - Olaoluwa

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The Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, has disclosed that the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has commenced bidding for the appointment of advisors for the privatisation of Bank, reports ITRealms.

Olaoluwa disclosed this at the weekend in Lagos at a media parley with theme "BOI Impacting on Nigeria Industrial Sector" and said that much progress has been made on the privatisation of the bank by the Federal Government in the last few months.

He also said that with the privatisation, the bank would be able to get more funds for its development mandate, stressing that BoI’s authoriised capital currently stood at N250 billion, of which N146 billion was paid up, adding the bank still had some gaps to fill. 

“However, you are all aware that government has been taken steps to privatise BoI. Just two days ago (Thursday), BPE opened financial bid for the appointment of advisors. We don't know the percentage that will be sold; all we know is that it is going to be partial privatization,” he said.

BoI boss pointed out that beyond recapitalisation, the capital has always come from government but they were taking steps that will enable the bank look for funding from other sources and that is why they are doing some ratings.

He underscored the need to get more funding for the bank's operation had made the management to embark on aggressive recovery of its non-performing loans.

He said that unlike in the past when the volume of non-performing loans was relatively high, the bank had reduced it to below five per cent within a short period.

Olaoluwa said that the bank had even gone as far as blacklisting defaulters.

He said that the volume of the bank's non-performing loans was relatively high in the past, but the bank had embarked on initiatives to manage it downward, including loan recovery. 

``The development bank in Brazil, their NPL is 2.6 per cent; the development bank in South Africa is 16.2 per cent,” he noted.

BoI further emphasized that in Nigeria, among the commercial banks, the average in the industry is about six to seven per cent. That we are able to reduce it to below five per cent in BoI is highly commendable,” he said. (NAN)

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Pix: Managing Director, Bank of Industry (BoI), Mr Rasheed Olaoluwa, at a function.