The Federal Government said it had commenced the review of laws guiding the privatisation and concession of public assets in the country.
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, stated this in Abuja at the pension industry strategy road map meeting organised by the National Pension Commission.
He said as far as privatisation and concession of public assets were concerned, they would require the skills of very experienced legal practitioners to carefully navigate through at least five general laws in order to be able to give sound advice for investment decisions.
The laws, according to him, are the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission Act, Public Enterprise (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act, Pubic Procurement Act, Debt Management (Establishment) Act, and Utilities Charges Commission Act.
Fashola added that if the concession was in respect of a road project, for example, an investor would still have to look at the Federal Highways Act, which is the sixth law that will guide the particular transaction.
The minister noted that there was a need for the Federal Government to harmonise all these laws to make them less cumbersome for investors, considering the huge infrastructure gap facing the country.
He said at the level of the ministry, work had already begun towards reviewing the laws with a view to making recommendations to the Ministry of Justice to consider and effect some changes.
Fashola stated, “As it stands today, it seems to me that the legal regime for regulation of privatisation of public assets can do with some reform.”
END
Be the first to comment