Selling national assets, disinherits future generations

Posted by admin Latest Politics Saturday, October 1st, 2016

…Say more Nigerians as they dig in against proposal

From Ben Dunno (Warri), Judex Okoro (Calabar) and Attahiru Ahmed (Gusau)

The groundswell of opposition to the suggestion made by Alhaji Aliko Dangote and other people, to the Federal Government to sell national assets to raise funds for financing the 2016 budget and bring the country out of recession has continued to grow.
Sunday Sun reporters across the country who spoke with a cross section of Nigerians found out that majority of them are stridently opposed to the very idea.
In Warri, where major oil and gas operations take place, residents advised the government to immediately set machinery in motion for the activation of the multi-billion dollar Ogidigben gas city project in Warri South-West Local Government Area of the state, in order to create an enabling environment for foreign investments, which would not only boost the local currency but create thousands of job opportunities for youths in the country rather than plan to sell assets, which they indicated is an ill-conceived option.
At present, the federal government’s assets in Delta State include the Warri Refining and Petrochemical Company (WRPC), Nigerian Gas Company (NGC) and Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC), which are subsidiaries of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Other federal assets are the Koko port complex run by the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) and the Delta Steel Company (DSC), Ovwian-Aladja, which was concessioned during the Obasanjo administration.
Mr. Gabriel Omonigho, a businessman, stated that the sales of assets should not be an option to be considered by the federal government in seeking solution to the recession that has hit the country, stressing that the government was yet to exploit other numerous options available to it in addressing the problem.

Govt just looking for short cut
“It is becoming obvious now that the economic team under the Buhari administration lacks the experience and technical know-how to take the nation out of this recession we have found ourselves today and are looking for a short cut out of it. How does one explain a situation where the Federal Government was quick in suggesting the sales of assets when it has not taken advantage of other options that could help in tackling the problem at hand?” Omonigho queried.
“The country has not vigorously pursued the idea of getting a very low interest loan from international bodies to pump into the economy by ensuring the growth of the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in form of accessibility to low commercial bank interest rate loans in order to create jobs and develop locally made products that could be exported to the neighboring African countries for foreign exchange earnings,” he said.
Omonigho further stated: “The Buhari administration had been making so much noise about repatriating looted money from abroad yet it has not instituted cases in these nations where these funds are domiciled to have them repatriated. How do we hope to get these monies back if the legal procedures are not followed to the logical conclusion? You will agree with me that these monies when brought back home, would go a long way in a situation like this.”
Mrs. Veronica Tosanwunmi, a secondary school teacher in Warri, did not see anything wrong with the sales of assets but was of the opinion that only those moribund assets that have been long abandoned should be considered and not the viable ones like the NNPC and its subsidiaries.
She said, “I really do not have anything against the sales of assets but then let it be that it’s only those moribund assets that are being considered. As far as Delta State is concerned, the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) happens to be the only moribund asset at the moment after Obasanjo’s administration sold out Delta Steel Company (DSC) Ovwian-Aladja.
“Let NPA be sold out to a very reputable marine company that can bring a lot to bear in terms of revamping the ports in the state. When this is done transparently, then these ports would not only be functional in generating revenues but also create more job opportunities for the teeming youths in the state”, she suggested.
Speaking further, “It would however be counter-productive for the government to be considering selling NNPC and its subsidiaries under whatever guise as those are the only business interest the nation is presently holding on to for survival.”
“Take Delta State for example, the Warri Refinery and other NNPC subsidiaries are the only things left sustaining the city after Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) left the city alongside other companies and the state government appears to be in dilemma with the problem of low federal allocations. What do you think would happen to the people here if the federal government decides to sell the refinery left?” she queried.
Speaking in the same vein, the National Association of Itsekiri Graduates, NAIG, urged President Muhammadu Buhari not to give consideration to calls for sales of national assets, saying his body language and economic policies so far were already unbearable and encouraging suicide among Nigerians.
In a statement released by its President, Oritsemeyin Edema, NAIG advised that rather than sell national assets and put the nation in greater risk, Federal Government should commit all it takes into starting up the Ogidigben Export Processing Zone in Delta State to give willing investors the confidence to come in and open windows for economic revival.
“We heard initially that Buhari’s body language was fighting corruption. The reality is that his current body language does not seem like he is sincere about his change agenda as the worsening economic meltdown has led to several suicides among Nigerian youths, increased crime rate, and unleashed untold hardship despite claims that over N3 trillion has been recovered from looted funds.
“The government should immediately kick start the $16B EPZ, also known as Gas City Revolution, to steer the nation from the recession instead of embarking on sales of our national assets to cronies who will only use it to further enslave the people, especially those of the Niger Delta who host the major target assets.
“Today Buhari is the Petroleum Minister, and he cannot claim ignorance of the fact that the EPZ has been designed to create over 150,000 direct and indirect jobs all through the construction phase and many more will be created when completed and put on stream.”

It’s against leaving endurable legacy for unborn generations
From Cross River State, more missiles were fired at the proposal to sell national assets as indigenes of the state rejected the move outright. Condemning the move in separate interviews in Calabar, they said selling off national assets to finance the 2016 deficit budget and recession amounts to disinheritance of future generations.
They further argued that it would be a disservice to the founding fathers of the nation whose dreams included leaving an endurable legacy for unborn generations.
The Speaker of the Cross River State House of Assembly, Rt Hon John Gaul Lebo, said the idea of selling off national assets as a means of raising funds to bail out the country from recession is an old economic policy that is antithetical with the digital world.
Lebo suggested that rather than sell the national assets, the federal government should revise the 2016 national budget from N6.06trillion to N4trillion, adding that President Buhari should write to the National Assembly on the need to revise the budget for optimal implementation.
The Speaker said: “If the economy is in recession and then the budget that we have is N6trillion, the first thing to do is revise the budget to an amount that is realizable. Mr President should do a budget priority and identify those projects that can be funded. He should look at those projects that can re-engineer the economy and fund them adequately.
“If our budget can go down to N4trillion, which we can realize and spend, then it would be better. We should revise the budget rather than sell our national assets.
Insisting that the funding models of the 2016 national budget have nothing to do with the sales of the national asset, he said: “The Federal Government should sit back; engage technocrats and stakeholders to inject developmental ideas that would move the country out of recession because selling of the national assets is not an option. They should formulate a fiscal strategy and policy that would move the country out of recession, saying that cash injection was not the only solution to solving the problem.”
Also speaking, Hon Cletus Obun argued that the proposal to sell national assets is preposterous. “It amounts to disinheritance of future generations. National assets like the Margaret Ekpo International Airport, and Calabar seaport are strategic investments for not just economic but security reasons,” Obun said.
Obun, who is the All Progressives Congress vice-chairman for Central Senatorial Zone of Cross River State, further said: “The dream of our fallen founding fathers must not be slaughtered on the slab of our temporary economic and leadership crises masterminded by intermediate intellectuals and opportunistic leaders especially in the last regime.
“We rejected the sovereign wealth fund to save for this acid rain. Now that it is here and a band of wasters want the sale of the last vestiges of our hope for nationhood. May that day never come when President Buhari is blackmailed into such sacrilegious treason!
“As he resisted devaluation of the naira so must he avoid voodoo economists and their poisoned honeycomb. The government could do partial privatisation of some commercial investments, but not airports and seaports located in strategic border flash points from Maiduguri to Calabar, Sokoto to Lagos and Port Harcourt. Enough of this reckless proposals that are informed by greed and grabbing mentality of fraudulent spin-doctors,” he stated.
Speaking in a similar vein, Dr Oshegha Abang, a lecturer in the Department of Linguistics and Communications Studies, University of Calabar said: “Privatization with its oddities serves a more useful purpose, outright sale of these assets will tantamount to great disservice, moreso, now that the exchange rates are unstable.
“Besides there is a tendency to undervalue the cost in favour of political cronies. The presence of these assets to an extent gives the people a sense of belonging. Assets should not be sold but they could be partially privatised.”
“Having lived and practised politics in this part of Nigeria in the last 30years, I will be humble enough to say categorically clear that I won’t trust the process,” declared the Senior Special Assistant to Governor Ayade (Branding and Communication), Sir Dorncklaimz Enamhe.
He added: “The situation the country has found itself could have been avoided. Also, it will be unfortunate to imagine that we can take such huge risk when from our antecedent it’s been failure from one PPP to another; I join the National Assembly to say a big no.”
However, a legal practitioner, Utum Eteng, endorsed the idea of selling national assets if the proceeds would be used to fund projects that are very essential. He therefore gave the intention the thumbs up, depending on the viability of what the new asset will bring, saying, “you sell one asset to acquire new ones especially if the new ones will be viable. After all, Calabar port has been dormant and if selling it would bring about economic prosperity to the state and the country then so be it. We know that Calabar airport is dilapidated and it’s unfair to allow such assets waste away. The best thing is to sell it.”

People pushing for asset sale are unpatriotic
On his part, the secretary of the Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), Zamfara State, Alhaji Musa Maimai descended hard on those agitating for the sale of Federal Government assets and described them as unpatriotic Nigerians.
He argued that the Federal Government should reactivate dormant or abandoned assets to make them useful rather than sell them.
“I clearly remember that those assets now described as dormant were constructed by past administrations and were very useful to the government and society. Why should those assets now be made dormant? People need them now and forever. The Federal Government should rehabilitate them and make them useful as before.”
He urged all patriotic Nigerians to kick vehemently against the sales of dormant or abandoned assets in the country.
Maimai noted that the two major federal assets in the state include the building complex of the defunct Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL) and the abandoned NIPOST offices in some local government areas in the state.
“These two assets should be rehabilitated and made functional as before to generate more revenue and create employment,” Maimai said.
However, Zamfara State chairman of a non-governmental organization, Gaskiya Mashaya Shayi, Sani Umar took the contrary view that the government would use the funds raised from the sales of the abandoned assets judiciously to the benefit of citizens. In his view, therefore, there was nothing wrong in selling national assets as the government has proposed.

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