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Wanted: Technically Competent Buyers For Government Companies

Buhari-Fashola
Federal Government is continuing with the privatisation and commercialisation policy of its companies, but with a difference.
The government is now to give much emphasis to the technical and managerial competence of prospective buyers of government-owned companies.
President Muhammadu Buhari dropped this hint today when he granted audience, at the Presidential Villa Abuja, to the Executive Vice President of Peugeot in Africa and the Middle-East, Mr. Jean-Christophe Quemard.
President Buhari emphasised that his own kind of privatisation would give greater consideration to the technical and managerial competence of prospective buyers of government-owned companies.
According to him, a higher premium will also be placed on the financial clout of bidders in future privatisation exercises to avoid the running aground of privatized companies by ill-equipped and incapable investors.
President Buhari who spoke after being briefed on plans by Peugeot to stage a comeback  to Nigeria after the collapse of the privatization of Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria Limited, noted that privatization could only succeed and yield desired benefits if  buyers of government-owned companies possess essential skills and resources.
Mr. Quemard had assured President Buhari that Peugeot was ready to reinvest in vehicle assembly in Nigeria,  provided that the right indigenous partners are found.
The Peugeot Chief Executive for Africa and the Middle-East briefed the President on the company’s three-phased plan to resume vehicle assembly in Nigeria with 4,000 cars next year, rising up to 10,000 cars by 2021.
He said that the plan, which he pleaded with the Federal Government to support with appropriate policies and actions, will entail higher local content in the assembly of Peugeot cars in Nigeria and the exportation of locally assembled Peugeot cars from Nigeria to neighbouring African countries.
Peugeot Automobiles Nigeria Limited which was privatized some years ago, has technically reverted to government ownership with up to 85 per cent of its shares now held by the Federal Government and the Assets Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON). [myad]

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