State to sell shares in banks, cement and oil groups

By December, Nigeria will sell off its remaining stake in state owned banks, cement companies and oil-marketing groups quoted on the Lagos Stock Exchange, news organisations reported on Monday. Vice President Atiku Abubakar, speaking at a presidential committee on reviving the economy, said the sale of the stakes in banks, cement company and oil marketing firms should be seen as a demonstration of the government's commitment to free market reforms, Reuters reported. Abubakar said privatisation was a key element of the government's economic policy aimed at improving government finance and strengthening the economy, AFP reported. It added that among groups expected to be sold were the oil-marketing group African Petroleum, which operates service stations across the country, and Nigeria's largest cement manufacturers, WA Portland. Doubts have been raised over the commitment to privatisation of President Olusegun Obasanjo, who, according to Reuters, has often implied that state firms would work if better managed. Nigerian officials said a team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was due shortly in Nigeria for the first time since the end of military rule, Reuters reported. A staff-monitored programme agreed by the IMF with the former military ruler, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, is effectively dead, after his administration failed to meet targets on privatisation and overspent in its last days, it added.