The 2023 presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Prince Adewole Adebayo, has faulted successive Nigerian governments since 1999 for selling off key public enterprises under the guise of privatisation, describing the move as a major cause of the nation’s lingering infrastructure problems.
Adebayo argued that the policy of selling government-owned enterprises such as the former National Electric Power Authority (NEPA), Nigeria Telecommunications Limited (NITEL), National Insurance Corporation of Nigeria (NICON), and Nigerian Hotels Limited was misguided. He particularly blamed the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo (1999–2007) for initiating the sale of these critical national assets.
According to him, the government should have focused on liberalising and opening up industries or sectors rather than selling entire enterprises. “What should have been done is to privatise the industry, not the enterprise,” he said.
The SDP flag bearer lamented that the ripple effects of these privatisation policies have been severe—leading to widespread infrastructure decay, a decline in technical training opportunities, massive unemployment, and poor capacity development.
“In those days, when you finished school, you could join NEPA, and they would train you. Many of today’s great engineers were products of NEPA,” Adebayo noted. “But we destroyed that system. Now, when a state government wants to build just 10 kilometres of road, you’ll see a Lebanese contractor leading the project because we no longer have functional public works departments.”
He further criticised the inefficiency of the privatised sectors, pointing out that despite the sale of NITEL, the country still suffers from telecommunications challenges. “Most telecom companies still rely on the old NITEL exchange. They cannot build nationwide broadband infrastructure because the private sector will not make such heavy backbone investments,” he explained.
Adebayo also questioned the logic behind privatising the power sector when private operators lack the capacity to manage it effectively. “Today, people are generating electricity themselves, but they still have to buy their own transformers. What then is the benefit of privatisation?” he asked.
He reiterated that privatising public enterprises was the wrong approach, insisting that the right step would have been to open up and regulate sectors to encourage competition and innovation rather than selling off government-owned institutions.
“The SDP has a better vision,” Adebayo said. “Our plan is to rebuild and empower new generations of Nigerians who will manage these enterprises effectively and grow strong industries from them.”
