Ahamefule Ogbu
15 May 2005
Abuja — Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises, Mrs. Irene Chigbue, has denied allegations of disobeying a directive of the House of Representatives to stay action on the sale of the Aluminium Smelter Company of Nigeria (ALSCON).
Chigbue, who appeared before the House committee on Privatisation, denied disregarding the House, saying she was yet to be informed about any resolution about ALSCON.
She said media reports which suggested she deliberately flouted the said directive was a creation of the press.
Fielding questions from committee members, the Director General said she acted on the sale of the nation's steel rolling mills with the best intentions.
Chairman of the House Committee on Privatisa-tion, Hon. Celestine Ughanze, directed the Director General to submit the text she read to the Press so as to ascertain if there was anything in it to suggest the position portrayed in the reports.
Chigbue who thereafter appeared before the Committee on Steel headed by Hon Saiki Omeiza denied that the concessioning of the Delta Steel company or any of the companies did not take the interest of the workers or the host communities into consideration as she said 10 percent of the shares in each of the companies had been set aside for workers and host communities.
On why BPE sold the three related steel companies, Ajaokuta, Itakpe and Delta Steel to Global consult limited, she replied that the companies were supposed to work together and feed each other with their raw materials for efficiency.
Asked why BPE was proceeding with the privatization exercise ahead of a review of the enabling Act, she replied that the Bureau was operating with an existing law which created the National Council on Privatisation.
The BPE boss explained that although Delta was built at the cost of $700million, the cost could not be a basis $700 million for the bidding price for a variety of factors.
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