The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, on Wednesday said the Federal Government was yet to take a decision on the proposal to sell some of its national assets.
The National Economic Council had last Thursday backed the National Economic Management Team’s plan to immediately inject more funds into the economy through assets’ sales, advance payment of license renewals, infrastructure concessioning and use of recovered funds to reduce funding gaps and implementation of Fiscal Stimulus/Budget Priorities.
But the minister said the final decision on assets sale will only be taken by the Federal Executive Council.
Mr. Mohammed made this known while speaking with State House correspondents at the end of FEC meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He was accompanied by the Minister of Water Resources, Sulaiman Adamu.
The minister said: “Government is still working on the most comprehensive manner to reflate the economy and the government will make its position known very soon.
“What the government will do is to reflate the economy, everything you have heard so far is just suggestion, until the government makes its position known. All these reports of assets sale, assets leasing and whatever is being bandied about, are nothing but speculations.
“The government is yet to come out with its position on how to bail out the economy and it will take that position.
“NEC will recommend but it is the Federal Executive Council that will decide and what we decide will be the position of government”.
IT SHOWS WE HAVE A RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN PLACE.
Basically, Nigeria operates a mixes economy. It will be therefore wrong to turn the country to a capitalist country, perhaps even the worst form, as even the united states have some state ownership enterprises. It is the responsibility government to meet the needs of her people. Giving corruption as an excuse for not responding to the people’s need by selling off all the means to satisfy the majority is a sign of failure on the part of government. The argument at most times in the public domain has always been, ” is there really any ideological difference between the APC and PDP?”. Privatisation is the PDP agenda which the APC is suppose to CHANGE. If PDP sold governmet’s interest in business ownership because the couldnt manage people, the APC reverse the trend. The nation had failed in every facet of governance. Does it imply that all such aspects should be sold off? If it is argued that that is the most prudent thing to do, then we should hope to see the judiciary, the legislature and the presidency. However, it appears despite the mix of strange birds of ideology in the government the country, some progressives have not entirely lost out.