BPE to assist Benue on economic reforms

The Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) has pledged to deploy its expertise to assist the Benue State Government in its privatisation, commercialisation and public-private partnership (PPP) agenda as well as other economic reforms to accelerate the state’s economic development.

Director-General of BPE, Alex Okoh, made the pledge when he received Benue State Commissioner for Finance, David Olofu, who was on a courtesy visit to BPE.

Okoh noted that BPE, an economic reform agency of the Federal Government, had in the past provided support to other states in the country.

He added that the bureau had reformed many sectors of the Nigerian economy, including ports, financial institutions, power, pension and the telecoms sector.

According to him, the Bureau mandated by the Public Enterprise (Privatisation and commercialisation) Act of 1999 has been empowered to play an active role in the entrenchment of the use of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model in the delivery of infrastructure development and asset optimisation in Nigeria.

He commended the Benue State Government for the initiative to incentivize private sector participation in the economy of the state by inaugurating an 8-member Council on Privatisation and Commercialisation.

Okoh added that the initiative is capable of attracting private sector capital inflow into the state and reducing government spending thereby freeing more funds for other developmental projects in the state.

The Commissioner for Finance, David Olofu who represented the State Government thanked the Director-General and the Management of the Bureau for the willingness to work closely with the State government to promote private sector participation in the state economic reform programmes.