SAN FRANCISCO, July 27, (THEWILL) – Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, has stated that the success of Indorama Eleme Petrochemicals Limited (IEPL) is sufficient proof of President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision for a private sector driven economy.
Osinbajo, who is also the Chairman, National Council on Privatisation (NCP) made this known in Port Harcourt, Rivers state, on Thursday, at his speech delivered at the formal release ceremony to discharge IEPL from the monitoring programme of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE).
He declared that it would be impossible for government to ever be able to provide all the capital needed to invest in infrastructure, or to catalyze economic activity saying the best it can do as government is acting as a catalyst, an enabler, supporting private capital to achieve maximum impact in an economy that so desperately needs all the investment it can get.
“Last year, President Buhari established a Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), whose results are now starting to be felt across the country. The kind of economic growth and prosperity that we’re aiming for cannot happen without private capital, and that private capital cannot be unlocked without reforming the business environment by removing obstacles and roadblocks to investment and to business operations,” Osinbajo stated.
“We know for a fact that it is impossible for government to ever be able to provide all the capital needed to invest in infrastructure, or to catalyze economic activity. The best that we can do, and what we should be putting all our energy into, as government, is acting as a catalyst, an enabler, supporting private capital to achieve maximum impact in an economy that so desperately needs all the investment it can get.
“And this is the entire point of the privatization programme in the first place – it is about getting government out of the way so that businesses can do what they need to do to create jobs and prosperity. I’m glad that we’re here today to see one of the success stories of the Federal Government’s privatisation programme.
“What Indorama is accomplishing today is very much in line with President Buhari’s vision for a country that produces what it consumes and grows what it eats. If you had to sum up our vision for the Nigerian economy in a few words, these would suffice. Grow what we eat, produce what we consume.
“At the end of last year, the President launched a Presidential Fertilizer Initiative, to ensure the availability of cheaper fertilizer to our farmers, to support what we’re doing in agriculture, in the production of rice and wheat and other staples.
“That Fertilizer Initiative, now well underway, has created significant economic opportunities for companies like the IEPL. I have been informed that Indorama will this year alone supply about 360,000 MT of Urea to Fertilizer blenders, who will in turn produce NPK fertilizer for the benefit of farmers across the country. This is the kind of economic progress we’re after, in which every unlocked opportunity proceeds to unlock several others, across multiple sectors of the economy.
“In conclusion, let me emphasise the need for IEPL to continue to cooperate and collaborate with the BPE. Indorama’s graduation from this Monitoring Programme shouldn’t be an excuse to depart from best practice, or from the operational discipline that comes with oversight.”
