The Bauchi state government has said that its decision to privatise six state-owned moribund industries was in the best interest of the people of the state.
The Secretary to the State Government (SSG), Mr Ibrahim Kashim, said at a briefing in Bauchi on Saturday while reacting to a call on the state government by the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) to revert its decision or face legal action.
The state government had on Tuesday announced the lease of Zaranda Hotel and Wikki Hotel at the sum of N1.2 billion naira and N200 million respectively for a period of 25 years.
It also announced that it was set to sell off Bauchi Fertilizer and Blending Company at N400 million, Bauchi Meat Factory at N301 million, Bauchi Furniture Company at N150 million and Galambi Cattle N150 million.
Meanwhile, Alhaji Babayo Aliyu, Chairman of the APC on Friday, said the party strongly condemned the move by the administration of governor Mohammed to lease and sell out the ‘valuable’ industries of the State.
He said the party gave the state government two weeks to revert its decision, else, it would institute a legal action against it.
However, defending the decision by the state government, the SSG said that the government is not just interested in selling the assets off but also interested in seeing them work having realised it was incapacitated to run them profitably.
Kashim revealed that more of those industries would also be put up for privatisation, adding that state-owned Yankari Game Reserve is one of those industries.
“Yankari is definitely one of the areas of concern. We are keen about Yankari because Bauchi State is supposed to be a pearl of Tourism and we want to maximise our capacity,” he said.
