The Federal Government on Tuesday sold its 21 percent equity in the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC), which translates to 12.4 billion, to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to enhance the operations and profitability.
The Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo witnessed the signing of the instrument by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the Director-General of the BPE, Alex Okoh, which transfers the government’s shares in the NSPMC to the new buyers at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
The Vice President, who is the Chairman of the National Council on Privatization (NCP), said that the whole idea behind divesting 21 percent public interest in the NSPMC was to infuse in its operations the public-private sectocts that require cutting-edge technology.
Osinbajo explained: “Security printing has taken new dimensions, it is no longer what it used to be. As a matter of fact, there are those who think that today there is more of technology than merely security printing.
“If you look at some of the cards that are being printed today, that in the chips are not just security they are actually technological assets.
“So, there are new assets and there are new dimensions and there are new ideas and it’s just the privates sector that can really be at the cutting edge of technology and innovation”, the Vice President stressed
According to him, over 140 publicly-owned companies have been privatized in the past 30 years, pointing out that government’s divestment of its interests in the companies is to bring in the needed expertise to run them.
Osinbajo restated the need for government to stick to its regulatory role and its incentivizing role and allow the private sector to do business and to take the risk where possible.
He explained that the CBN and its technical partner, De La Rue, the private company in the deal, would bring in the innovative edge in the NSPMC.
In his remarks, Emefiele, noted that the NSPMCarks, Emefiele, noted that the NSPMC remained an asset with the capacity to produce currency, sensitive security documents for government and for private companies for not just the country but also for the West African sub-region.
The CBN Governor expatiated: “The capacity of the mint has increased and expanded and it now produces all the currency that is needed in the country. The mint capacity has been expanded to where it has idle capacity that can produce of other ECOWAS countries.
“We intend to embark on aggressive marketing to see to it that not only produces for itself but also produces for other important stakeholders that may require its services in the area of currency printing.
“In the area of security document, we are working assiduously given the fact that the mint was in the past produced passports and produced visas and other very sensitive security documents. Our next phase is to see to it that the NSPMC eventually begins the printing of the digital Nigerian passport”, Emefiele added.
Commenting earlier at the signing ceremony, Okoh, noted that CBN’s strategic investment in the company was a success as it achieved its objective of turning around the fortunes of the company and returning it to profitability.
While noting that there are indications of the progress recorded by NSPMC under the strategic management of the CBN, the BPE boss explained that government was handing over to the apex bank a company with tremendous potential to achieve significant growth.
Okoh clarified further: “Following the expiration of the strategic investment period, the CBN indicated its strong intention to acquire the company on an arm’s length basis, noting the sensitive nature of the security printing and minting services rendered by the company which include immigration and electoral materials.
“Accordingly, after a careful consideration of the pertinent issues, the Bureau made a proposal to the NCP to formalize the sale of 21 per cent of the Federal Government’s interest in the company to the CBN whilst government would retain an equity holding of 10.1 per cent”, he added.
The BPE boss said that the transaction would add a net sum of over N17 billion to the nation’s treasury.
