FG is allegedly planning to sell the prestigious Tafawa Balewa Square which it’s said will be used to fund the 2023 budget Deficit.
Amidst Nigeria’s fiscal catastrophe, the Federal Government of Nigeria is reportedly compiling the list of assets that will be either sold or ‘concessioned’ to fund the 2023 budget deficit of N10.7 trillion.
According to sources at the Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the government is considering selling or concessioning the Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS) in Lagos as well as all the National Integrated Power Projects in Olorunsogo, Calabar II, Benin (located at Ihorbor), Omotosho II and Geregu II plants.
The government is also planning to sell or concession all the hydropower plants across the country, including Oyan, Lower Usuma, Katsina-Ala and Giri plants.
More than 25 of such projects will be turned into active assets that will be generating money in some ways for the Federal Government.
Some of them will be offered to investors for equity while others will be totally sold to reduce waste.
The government is also eyeing revenue from Calabar and Kano free zones as well as Abuja Water Board, Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria, National Film Corporation, National Theatre, and Lagos International Trade Fair.
The Bureau of Public Enterprises confirmed that it was compiling the list of assets that would be concessioned including the Tafawa Balewa Square.
The BPE’s Head of Public Communications, Uzoma Chidi Ibeh, said that there was no bidder yet for the assets.
“The list is being compiled. There is no bidder yet, but we have a register of all the assets,” he told bellnewsonline.com.
He said the interest of the government was to have real investors and not firms that would be stripping the nation’s assets.
“The capacity is more important. We don’t want to get someone who will be stripping the national assets,” he said, noting that the essence of the effort was to fund the 2023 budget.