The Federal Government expects to raise N400n ($1.3bn) via asset sales this year, part of which will help finance its record 2018 budget, the head of the privatisation agency has said.
The Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Alex Okoh, said the government had finalised plans to start a post-privatisation programme for the power sector with a $1bn credit from the World Bank to boost power distribution and transmission, which had underperformed.
Okoh told Reuters that the government had a list of 11 assets it planned this year either to sell to strategic investors or offer to private companies to lease and run on concession, ranging from power assets to sports stadiums.
Sources have also said the government plans to sell part of its stake in Nigerian Reinsurance Company through an Initial Public Offering in November.
In 2013, Nigeria started selling parts of its moribund state electricity firm in a privatisation that was meant to improve power supplies and attract billions of dollars in new investments, neither of which happened.
Okoh said the power sector was among 37 per cent of privatised enterprises that had underperformed, without providing a figure on how many assets had been sold.
He added that the country had attracted $7.8bn in foreign investment into 53 privatised entities.
President Muhammadu Buhari has yet to sign the 2018 spending plan into law. The National Assembly approved a budget of N9.12tn, higher than the N8.61tn the government presented to lawmakers in November, after delays.
