The Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation has been issued with a mandate to institute an inquiry into the power sector in Nigeria.
The committee chairman, Sen. Ben Murray-Bruce, made the disclosure when he led the commitee members on a visit to the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) in Abuja, told the Director-General of the BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, that the committee had been mandated to hold a public hearing on the power sector.
He, however noted that in trying to address the challenges of the power sector that efforts should be made not to scare foreign investors, but that ‘’we need to fix it”.
A local newspaper, the Punch reported on Monday the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) announced that it has commenced the review of the privatised public enterprises that have failed to live up to expectation.
The report added that the Director-General of the BPE, Mr. Alex Okoh, told the committee members that the BPE had started a thorough review of the non-performing enterprises in order to ascertain the issues affecting their performances.
Okoh reiterated the commitment of the bureau to positively impact on the economy in areas of power generation and supply, improvement in overall infrastructure, employment creation, food security and human capital development.
Okoh explained that a the role of the bureau was to assist in restructuring the public sector enterprises and services in a manner that would create a new synergy between a leaner and more efficient government, and a revitalised, efficient and service-oriented private sector.
He, however, lamented that paucity of funds has caused a serious setback to the attainment of some of the objectives of the BPE.
“The treasury of the Federal Government is becoming leaner in view of competing demands and dwindling government revenues,” he said.
