Atiku Abubakar says he will privatise NNPC, liberalise oil and mineral sectors if elected
Nigeria’s former vice president Atiku Abubakar will privatise parts of the country’s state oil company and allow the naira currency to float to attract foreign investment if elected as head of state, he told Reuters.
Abubakar also confirmed that he intends to run in next year’s presidential election, becoming the biggest opposition heavyweight to say he will take on Muhammadu Buhari. He said that as vice president in the PDP administration from 1999-2007, he implemented a programme of liberalisation in areas including the telecoms sector. Abubakar said he would go further if elected president.
“I am also going to expand it to include the oil and gas sector which have not been touched at all and other major sectors of the economy like mining, solid minerals,” he said. Abubakar said he would privatise parts of Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which has been beset by decades of mismanagement and is crucial to the OPEC member’s economic fortunes. He did not specify the parts that would be privatised.
