The Bureau of Public Enterprises said that if the National Assembly passed its eight reforms bills into law, it would greatly improve the nation’s Foreign Direct Investment.
This was contained in statement made available to newsmen by the Bureau’s Head, Public Relations, Chigbo Aniechebe, on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to the statement, the Director-General of the BPE, Benjamin Dikki, said this at a roundtable on infrastructure and Public Private Partnership with the African Development Bank Group.
The statement applauded the Federal Executive Council for transmitting the eight reform bills initiated by the bureau to the National Assembly for passage.
The bills are the Railway Bill, Inland Waterways Bill, Ports and Harbour Bill, Federal Roads Authority Bill, National Roads Fund Bill and National Transport Commission Bill.
Others are the Competition and Consumer Protection Bill and Postal Sector Reform Bill.
The statement said the bills touched on critical sectors that would transform the country’s infrastructure landscape which would ultimately change the way business was done in Nigeria.
It expressed hope that with the stakeholders’ engagement, the bills would be passed within the current legislative year.
The statement said: “The purpose of the bills, among others, is to abrogate existing monopoly laws and liberalise the various sectors to allow private sector participation and ensure a conducive business climate.
“They will also encourage private investment, promote competition and institute a sound legal and regulatory framework that would ensure independent regulation.”
Dikki said the bills were important in creating an institutional framework that would clearly define the roles of policy formulators, operators and regulators in the different sectors.
It said six of the bills were in the transport sector, an area of huge potentials for the Nigerian economy.
The statement expressed optimism that when passed, the bills would open up avenues for investments in road transport, water ways and railways.
It said the bureau intended to embark on aggressive enlightenment and engagement of the relevant stakeholders on the objectives of the reforms and their impact on the Nigerian economy.
The AFDB’s Chief Country Programme Coordinator in the Regional Office, Nigeria, Dr. Andoh Mensah, also thanked the DG for giving an insight on the bills.
Mensah promised the bank’s collaboration with the BPE until the bills were passed.
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