The Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh, says the federal government will earn five billion naira annually from the planned concession of its two free trade zones, located in Calabar and Kano.

Mr Okoh said the planned concession would increase export earnings from the two special economic zones to about $3 billion over five to seven years.

He said the bureau had listed over 36 projects and transactions this year across diverse sectors of the economy, including the power sector.

Mr Okoh explained that these transactions and projects would see the sale and concession of power generation assets that would add about 3,300 megawatts to the national grid.

“The importance of power as an enabler for economic and industrial activities across all sectors of the economy continues to attract strong focus and attention of the federal government.

“In the health sector, the reforms being undertaken by the bureau will involve the implementation of initiatives which will radically transform health care delivery across Nigeria.

“This will improve availability, accessibility, affordability and quality of health care services with the ultimate objective of having a physically and an emotionally healthy population.

“The impact of this is to unlock significant resources for the government to invest in other critical infrastructure as well as other key sectors of the economy, creating job opportunities in the process,” he said.

He also reiterated the government’s readiness to improve its PPP engagement framework to generate the confidence required to attract private sector capital into the nation’s infrastructure space.

The webinar, which was organised by the BPE, in collaboration with the Nigerian Exchange Group and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission on Tuesday, aimed at highlighting the huge investment opportunities being offered by the government reforms and privatisation programme as captured in the bureau’s 2021 work plan.

Also speaking, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed, said Nigeria remained an economic hub in the African continent that is quite attractive, due to its population.

“It is, indeed, an investor’s delight despite our numerous challenges which the government is confronting.

Nigeria remains a premium investment destination for both local and foreign investors in the African continent.

“As we all know, there is a direct correlation between risk and reward. The higher the risk, the higher the associated reward.

The theme of the webinar was “Showcasing the investment opportunities in Nigeria’s privatisation and economic reform programme.”