Examining the PDP Candidate Central Economic Credential
Atiku Abubakar frequently cites his role as chairman of the National Council on Privatization during the Obasanjo administration as evidence of his economic management credentials. He argues that the privatizations he supervised unlocked private sector investment and improved efficiency in key sectors of the Nigerian economy. This fact-check examines whether this claim is supported by the evidence.
The Verdict: Mostly False
The record of privatizations conducted under or initiated by Atiku National Council on Privatization is, by most independent assessments, a story of mixed results at best and outright failure in the most consequential cases. The telecommunications privatization, often cited as a success, preceded Atiku tenure and cannot be attributed to his oversight. The other major privatizations of the period, particularly in the power and refineries sectors, produced outcomes that most analysts describe as disappointing or worse.
Nigeria petroleum refineries, privatized during this period, continued to operate at a fraction of their capacity for years after being transferred to private hands. The power sector privatization, formally completed after Atiku tenure but built on processes he initiated, produced the disastrous outcomes that have left Nigeria with one of the worst electricity situations of any major economy in the world. These are not small details to be acknowledged and moved past. They are central to any honest evaluation of Atiku economic management record.
The Corruption Dimension
Independent investigations into some of the privatizations conducted under Atiku supervision have raised allegations of irregularities in the bidding and valuation processes. Public assets were sold at prices that critics argued were significantly below their market value, with the gap between actual value and sale price representing potential losses to the Nigerian public that may have benefited private parties with political connections.
These allegations have not resulted in criminal convictions, but they have been documented by Nigerian legislative investigations, international organizations, and investigative journalists. Atiku has consistently denied wrongdoing, but the documented pattern of questionable privatization outcomes during his tenure is difficult to explain away as mere coincidence or technical inadequacy.
Conclusion
Overall Rating: MOSTLY FALSE. The claim that privatizations under Atiku watch were successful is not supported by the outcomes of the most significant privatizations of the period. Nigeria electricity crisis, which has cost the economy trillions of naira in lost productivity, is partly a legacy of the poorly designed and poorly executed privatization processes that Atiku supervised. Citing this record as a governance credential is at best misleading and at worst a brazen misrepresentation of documented failure.
