Abuja, NIGERIA — Vice President Kashim Shettima has called for an aggressive expansion of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) to drive Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a $1 trillion economy.
Presiding over the first 2026 meeting of the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) on Thursday, the Vice President emphasized that national assets must be strategically deployed to attract global capital and serve the public interest.
“Prosperity does not happen by accident. It is designed, negotiated, protected, and sustained by institutions that understand that national assets must be deployed in the service of the people,” Shettima stated.
Okay News reports that the Vice President highlighted the sale of Eko Electricity Distribution Company (Eko DISCO) as a major signal of renewed investor confidence, attributing capital inflows to the administration’s “coherence, clarity, and courage.”
A critical update from the meeting focused on the $500 million World Bank-financed distribution sector recovery program. The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Mr. Ayodeji Ariyo Gbeleyi, revealed that the government is moving to bridge the nation’s 5.6 million metering gap and end the era of estimated billing.
According to Mr. Gbeleyi, contracts for 1,437,000 meters have already been signed, with almost 400,000 already installed across the 11 DISCOs nationwide. The program ultimately aims to procure 3.22 million prepaid meters. The BPE also presented its audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2025, a move praised by the Council for bringing the agency’s records up to date in record time.
The NCP also approved ₦157 million for 830 former staff of NICON as repatriation allowances—an outstanding debt spanning 20 years. Additionally, the Council approved the lease of four coal blocks to a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of the Enugu State Government, contingent upon securing mining licenses from the Mining Cadastral Office.
Vice President Shettima concluded the session by warning against “policy confusion” and overlapping mandates within government institutions. He charged the Council to accelerate the development of a “bankable pipeline of projects” and ensure stricter post-privatization monitoring, asserting that “if we are to speak convincingly to investors, government must speak with one voice.”
