Just In: Government begins partial commercialisation of four river basins ®

Minister of Water Resources, Mr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu

The Federal Government has commenced the partial commercialisation of four River Basin Development Authorities (RBDAs) in the Niger-Delta, Sokoto-Rima, Ogun-Osun, and Upper Niger.
 
To this end, the Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh, who disclosed this at the weekend, said the Bureau has opened discussion for Transaction Advisory services with Agri-Africa Consultant A&E Law and Partnership Consortium, for the partial commercialisation of the four RBDAs.
  
Okoh said the main objective of the advisory service is to restructure and reposition the RBDAs for partial commercialisation and optimum performance, adding that the meeting with the transaction advisers was to formally introduce them to the minister and other key stakeholders.
 
He said: “The scope of work by Agri-Africa Consultant A&E Law and Partnership Consortium is basically to provide the requisite advice and support required for the Federal Government to successfully implement the partial commercialisation of the RBDAs in a manner consistent with relevant national policies, laws and international best practices,”
  
He listed the scope of work to include; Conduct of Diagnostic Study on the four RBDAs, define their business objectives, and to develop a strategic plan to achieve its operational goals; Identify, verify, record, classify and value the key assets of the RBDAs including status of title documents of their lands.
The Advisers, in conjunction with the BPE will implement, the Partial Commercialisation of the four RBDAs, develop quality management system, chart of Accounts, and opening balance sheets for the four pilot RBDAs based on internationally acceptable standards, and introduce operational tools developed through a one-off training.

Also, the advisers shall incorporate, restructure, and reposition the four named RBDAs to be self-sustaining.
 
The Minister of Water Resource, Suleiman Hussein Adamu, who was represented by the Director, River Basins Authority and Inspectorate of the Ministry, John Chigbo, said the RBDAs project was in line with the Ministry’s vision and promise to support and cooperate with the Advisers in the course of the project.
  
The Team Leader, Agri-Africa Consultant, Chigbozu Ekwekwuo, expressed gratitude for the opportunity given to serve the nation, adding that the consortium had assembled a credible team to deliver the project and make agriculture work in Nigeria.