Noumba said Nigeria was the first country selected by the World Bank for a pilot project for PPPs, regretting that for three years, funds released for the purpose had been unutilized. He said the World Bank team was in the country to find out which agency was in the best position to utilize and apply the fund appropriately.
According to him, non-utilization of the fund had forced the World Bank to restructure and scale the fund down to $25 million in the first instance, to take care of technical assistance and capacity building, while phase II would be $85 million, adding that the initial ratio was $150 million and $300 million.
He pledged the World Bank’s assistance to the Bureau in the area of advisory services, manpower development and funding of some of its transactions such as the commercialization of the Federal Housing Authority, privatization of the Abuja Stock and Commodities Exchange and the eight reform bills being fine-tuned for presentation to the National Assembly.
Earlier, the Acting Director General, BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki, noted that the present administration had shown strong political will in that direction. The DG called for the domiciling of PIU in the Bureau as the law establishing BPE gives it the mandate to execute PPPs through concessioning and commercialization.
He maintained that the successful concessioning of the country’s 24 ports by the Bureau was a clear testimony of its capability to handle PPPs. He said the Bureau had made presentation to the National Council on Privatization (NCP) on the need to domicile the PIU in the agency.
The Sun