By Miriam Humbe
The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) recently hosted the inter-agency committee undertaking impact assessment of the Federal Government’s reform programme in privatized public enterprises.
The committee which comprised representatives from the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), the Nigerian Institute of Social and Economic Research (NISER) and the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) was at SON, on a joint study visit to evaluate the impact of the federal government’s reform programme on privatized government owned cement Companies in Nigeria.
Leader of the team, Mr. Saidu Iliya Kure, Head, Performance and Compliance Evaluation, BPE enumerated the Committee’s mandate as being to carry out an impact assessment study of some of the privatized enterprises in five sectors of the economy, including manufacturing.
He explained that the Committee’s visit to SON was to validate responses collated from some of the privatized cement companies in the country given the significance of standardization to the economic policies of the government and thus the industrialization of the Nation.
Welcoming members of the Committee to the SON Corporate Headquarters, Abuja on behalf of the Director General, Osita Aboloma Esq., the Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr. Nuhu Yahaya Fana stated that “privatization of state-owned enterprises has become a key component of structural reform processes and globalization strategy in many economies around the world.
According to him, Nigeria has also employed privatization programmes as a means of fostering economic growth, attaining macroeconomic stability, and reducing public sector borrowing requirements arising from corruption, subsidies and unprofitable state-owned enterprises.
He commended the initiative to conduct the impact studies to ascertain if the objectives of the reforms are being realized and assured the committee of all necessary support and provision of information by relevant SON officials.
The Committee members deliberated extensively with the SON team, following which information and documentations were exchanged.
