>
The senator representing Oyo South, Adesoji Akanbi, has advised against the proposed sale of national assets to take the country out of recession.
Billionaire businessman, Aliko Dangote, Senate President Bukola Saraki and the Emir of Kano, Mohammed Sanusi II, are among high profile Nigerians who recently suggested to President Muhammadu Buhari to to sell off the country’s asset such as the multi-billion dollar Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited, and the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) Joint Ventures, and use the proceeds to help the economy out of recession.
The National Economic Council which comprises state governors with the Vice President as the Chairman, Central Bank Governor, Finance Minister and others, have also backed the proposal.
But Senator Akanbi said at the weekend that sale of national assets should only be the last resort, adding that they may be undervalued if sold at desperate times.
His words: “The assets will end up with the capitalists who actually don’t have the resources. They will then run to banks to take deposits of ordinary Nigerians to buy assets which originally belong to them, the ordinary Nigerians. So what you have eventually is a situation where Nigerians are exploited through banks and also dispossesed of publicly owned assets.
“Apart from the economic dimension, national assets are instruments of unity in a country that is plural like ours. Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa, Ijaw and all other groups have the consciousness that national investments unite us and that gains or otherwise therefrom are nationally shared.”
He described recent privatisation exercises in Nigeria as “a big failure because it has always been a process of letting few persons who lack the required wherewithal – but are well positioned and have access to power and money deposited by Nigerians – benefit from artificial misery or crisis in various sectors. We must not take that route again.”
He said there were “other ways” through which the government could raise money and bring the country out of recession.
He suggested that the government should give special support to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and others in the micro economy through access to low-interest loans.
He added: “We need the state of Nigeria to lead the development process by deliberately linking agriculture with industrialization and support farmers so that we can attain self-reliance in food production. Spending billions of dollars on food importation is not sustainable; we must therefore produce what we eat by ensuring crops are not just brought of the ground but also converted to food.”
He also advised that Nigeria should increase tarrif on imported food and improve quality of ones produced locally.
“It is now imperative for all public office holders across the organs of government to make sacrifice and be set for pay cut. We must reduce cost of governance and cut wastes so that the government can have money to work for the people and the development of the country”, he said