The Federal Government says the sale of 21 per cent of its equity in the Nigerian Security Printing & Minting (NSPM) Plc to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will yield about N17 billion.
The Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Alex Okoh, disclosed this in Abuja on Tuesday at the official signing of the agreement for the sale of the Federal Government’s 12.4 billion shares in the NSPM to the CBN.
Mr Okoh said the conclusion of the transaction represents another success in the implementation by BPE of the Federal Government’s privatisation and commercialisation programme.
The BPE DG said the Federal Government was handing over to the CBN “a company with tremendous potentials to achieve significant growth.”
He noted that global market for security printing was huge, estimated at about $27.2 billion in 2017.
Today, he said estimates, which is growing by about 4.8 per cent annually, will reach about $34.3 billion by 2022.
Besides, he said Africa was a fast-growing market for security printing, with the industry projected to grow at an average annual rate of 9.6 per cent over the next five years.
“This growth is fueled by high population growth and increased mobility across the region as well as increased spending on identity programmes,” he said.