By Dipo Olowookere
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 has no doubt disrupted the status quos and many governments and individuals have come to realise that things may no longer remain as usual.
For governments of the third-world countries, there must be other ways to generate funds to provide for the numerous needs of the citizens and Nigeria is not an exception.
The African giant has largely relied on one major item for revenue generation, which is crude oil, but the contagion has stressed the need to raise funds from other sources.
On Monday, it was reported that the federal government was planning to sell and concession some national assets to raise funds for the budget next year.
States of the federation, which have been informed that their allocations from the centre will shrink because of the coronavirus crisis, are already looking inwards on how to generate revenue to fund their respective budgets for 2021.
One of the ways they plan to overcome their financial challenges is privatisation and on Tuesday, November 17, 2020 (today), the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) will engage the state governors on how to go about this.
The virtual conference, which holds by 2pm, will focus on the theme Privatisation in Nigeria and the Outlook for Subnational Economic Development. It is being hosted in collaboration with the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC).
A statement from the exchange disclosed that its CEO, Mr Oscar Onyema, will speak at the event, while comments would be welcomed from the NGF Chairman, Mr Kayode Fayemi, who doubles as the Governor of Ekiti State; as well as the Director-General of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Mr Lamido Yuguda.
Participants will discuss the impact of privatisation on the development and performance of the subnational economy, providing them with a broad idea on how privatisation of public enterprises would assist governments to unlock value and overcome financing and other challenges in their respective state-owned enterprises.
Several personalities have been invited for this programme, including Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Governor Dapo Abiodun of Ogun State, Governor Nasir El-Rufai of Kaduna State; Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Chairman, Board of Directors, First Bank of Nigeria; Chinua Azubike, CEO, InfraCredit; Asishana Okauru, Director General, NGF; Bolaji Balogun, CEO, Chapel Hill Denham; Alex Okoh, Director General, Bureau of Public Enterprises; Uche Orji, MD/CEO, Nigeria Sovereign Investment Authority; Bismarck Rewane, CEO, Financial Derivatives and Member, Presidential Advisory Council; Doyin Salami, Chairman, Presidential Economic Advisory Council; Yewande Sadiku, Executive Secretary, NIPC; and Andrew Nevin, Partner & Chief Economist, PwC Nigeria.