Uche Usim, Abuja
A director at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Joe Anichebe, has hinted that the Federal Government might put up 10 state-owned companies for sale in the fourth quarter of 2018.
Anichebe, who spoke at a workshop for the Association of Business Editors in Nigeria (ABEN) held in Abeokuta at the weekend, said the sales will raise about N289 billion to support the funding of the 2018 budget.
He said preparations are in the final stages for the sale of the companies, ranging from aviation to insurance.
The BPE director stated that the first set of companies to be sold are Nicon Insurance Ltd. and Skyway Aviation Handling Co., which he said will be sold “this month or early next month” through an initial public offering.
This comes as Senator Ita Enang, Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, said the greater part of the 2018 budget will be funded through loans.
READ ALSO: Emefiele optimistic of peaceful resolution of MTN, banks’ $8.1bn crisis
“Mr President assented to the budget. The time we are now, we are working on the implementation of the budget. We are working on steps to raise fund for the budget. You know that the greater part of the budget is going to be funded by loans because it is a deficit budget. And so we are working on modalities to make appropriate request before the legislature,” the adviser said.
“Some of the ministries have already advertised and commenced the procurement process pending which of the projects will finally come out of the budget and how much they will come out even the budget was finally approved.”
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) recently paid N12.4 billion for a 21 per cent stake in the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC).