James Emejo in Abuja
The acting Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Dr. Vincent Onome Akpotaire, has said the federal government is currently considering the setting up of an apex regulator for the housing sector to check the activities of operators in that segment.
He added that already talks were at an advanced stage with the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing towards realising the objective.
He said the essence was to create a housing sector where social housing will be delivered to Nigerians through a partnership involving the federal and state governments as well as the private sector.
Akpotaire also disclosed that the bureau was currently reviewing the statistics of failed privatised enterprises in the country to ascertain their performance index with a view to upscaling them.
In a statement issued by BPE spokesman, Alex Okoh, the acting BPE boss was quoted as saying on a television programme that there had been insufficient data on the operation of affected, hence necessitating the review.
He said the agency had also decided to partner with anti-graft and security agencies in the country to carry out thorough due diligence on prospective investors willing to buy government assets.
He lamented that despite the huge successes which the privatisation agency had recorded in the reform and privatisation programme of the federal government, only the failed exercises have been highlighted by Nigerians.
He further identified the reforms in the banking, telecoms, Pension, petroleum services and cement companies and hotel industries as some of the reforms carried out by the bureau and which had impacted positively on the Nigerian economy but “which most Nigerians don’t give the bureau the credit”.
