THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), have signed the instrument for the sale of 21% of the federal government’s interest in the Nigeria Security Printing and Minting Company (NSPMC).
The agreement is for the transfer of the transfer of 12.4billion federal government shares in the NSPMC to the CBN.
The instrument was signed by the CBN Governor, Godwin Emefiele, and the Director-General of the BPE, Alex Okoh in the presence of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo.
In his remark at the ceremony, Osinbajo, who is the Chairman of the National Council on Privatization (NCP), explained that idea of divesting 21 % public interest in the NSPMC was to tap from the combined synergies of the public and private sectors especially in complex projects that require cutting-edge technology.
He said: “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 are 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 private sector that can really be at the cutting edge of technology and innovation.”
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According to him, over 140 publicly-owned companies have been privatized in the past 30 years.
Osinbajo further said that government’s divestment of its interest in the companies was to bring in the needed expertise to run them.
“Government should stick to its regulatory role and its incentivizing role and allow the private sector to do business, allow the private sector to take the risk where possible,” he added.
He was confident that the CBN and its technical partner, De La Rue, who is the private company in the deal, would bring in the innovative edge in the NSPMC.
Also speaking, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, said the NSPMC is an asset with the capacity to produce currency for not just Nigeria but also for the West African region.
He said the corporation cans also produce sensitive security documents for government and for private companies.
The CBN boss stated: “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 the idle capacity that can produce for 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 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.”
In his remark, the Director-General, BPE, Mr Alex Okoh, revealed that that CBN’s strategic investment in the company was a success as it has achieved its objective of turning around the fortunes of the company and returning it to profitability.
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