The selling off of Nigeria’s national assets
has been in many discussions over the past few days with many arguing in favor
and others arguing against the idea.
The chairman of the Dangote group, Alhaji
Aliko Dangote is one of the voices in support of the selling of some of the
national assets to tackle the recession, especially Nigerian Liquefied Natural
Gas (NLNG). He said: “The only way for us to get out of this recession is
to make sure we move into action quickly; by diversifying the economy quickly.
“If I had challenges in my company, I would not hesitate to sell assets to
remain afloat, to get to the better times.
It doesn’t make any sense for me to
keep any assets and then suffocate the whole organisation. “We have a lot of
assets to sell. We can sell part of the joint ventures, or part of the shares.
My suggestion before was that they should even sell 100 percent of NLNG. I
don’t think government should be in any business of investing in sectors like
LNG
While,
popular lawyer, Femi Falana (SAN), is against the sale for reasons he pointed
out, he said: “It is pertinent to point out that the suggestion is in total
conflict with section 16 of the Constitution which has prohibited the
concentration of the nation’s wealth in the hands of a few people or a group.
“Indeed, by section 44 of the Constitution the nation’s natural resources shall
be held in trust for the Nigerian people by the federal government.” However if
the president is going to consider selling some national assets to help salvage
the economy, there are some things he must never sell:
1.
NLNG
According to Revenue Mobilization
Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC), the sale of NLNG is not the best
option: “It is the considered view of the Commission that Nigeria’s assets like
NLNG and other strategic national resources should not be sold to meet
short-term financial obligation.” NLNG is one of Nigeria’s biggest oil
companies, employing a large workforce of Nigerians. Like Femi Falana rightly
pointed out, most buyers engage in asset-stripping, the sale of NLNG will
definitely result in loss of jobs and the placing of one of Nigeria’s prime
assets in private hands who may not have the same goals.
2.
Refineries
The refineries in Warri, Port Harcourt and Kaduna are among the national assets the President is asked to consider selling. This however might be a bad idea because, the loss of thousand of jobs that might be an unintended consequence. The sale of refineries might also lead to an increase in fuel price. Given the current state of the Nigerian economy, a hike in fuel price is the last thing the country needs. Speaking on the proposed sale, NLC made the following statement: “A sensible nation does not go on chest-thumping trying to sell its cash-cows or its performing assets in times of difficulties. “These assets guarantees the nation’s present and future as it provides the much needed resources to continue running the nation. In Nigeria, we seem to have perfected the act of the absurd putting common sense and logic on its head all the time to our eternal detriment.”
2. NNPC
Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC)
is another of the nation’s assets that the president is being encouraged to
sell. However this might be a bad idea because privatization exercises have not
had a good success rate in Nigeria. Speaking through the Nigeria Labour
Congress (NLC), led by Joe Ajaero, warned that any attempt to sell the assets
would be resisted as previous privatization exercises only made few privileged
individuals to appropriate national assets to the detriment of the general
masses. “We assert that this call is contemptuous of the Nigerian nation and
its suffering masses. To seek to sell our remaining national patrimony is to
say the least an attempt to mortgage our collective future in favour of a few
economic cannibals and Buccaneers who unconscionably have commandeered the
Nigerian state and its levers of power with the hope of using it to hijack our
national patrimony,” they said.
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