In a
move aimed at salvaging the reform and privatisation programme of the power
sector, President Goodluck Jonathan Tuesday in Abuja accepted the resignation
of one of the key members of his cabinet, Professor Bart Nnaji as Minister of
Power, with immediate effect.
The
president, who in a press statement by his Special Adviser, Media and
Publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, thanked the former minister for his services to
the country and wished him well in his future endeavour, was said to have
decided to accept the resignation, following Nnaji’s admission that companies
linked to him had submitted bids for one of the successor companies created
from the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
However,
speaking to THISDAY Tuesday night on his decision to leave the cabinet, Nnaji
said he opted to resign in order to save the privatisation and reform programme
from those who might want to use ulterior motives to bring down the programme. Nnaji said he had met
with the president Tuesday afternoon, during which he (president) informed him
(Nnaji) that he was using his company as a proxy to buy shares on behalf of the
president in Afam power station through the privatisation process.
On
hearing this, he informed the president that rather than drag him (Jonathan)
and the entire process through the mud, he would prefer to resign but reminded
the president that he had brought it to his attention two weeks ago that a
company he owned was part of a bidding consortium that had submitted bids for
Enugu Distribution Company.
Nnaji
explained that there have been all sorts of efforts to bring him down since his
appointment as Special Adviser to the President on Power and later power
minister, but decided Tuesday that it was best to leave rather that allow
fourth columnists to mar the entire process. “It is a huge conspiracy to scuttle the programme, but rather
than drag the president and the programme down, I decided to tender my
resignation,” he said.
On what
would become of the reform process on which he had worked so hard, the former
minister said he had managed to put the power sector on track and all key
reforms in place, adding “it would be difficult to derail it right now and I
hope it would proceed as planned.” When asked if the independent power company he owns, Gemetric
Power, would withdraw from the consortium bidding for Enugu Disco, Nnaji said:
“As far as I am concerned, the bid is still alive. “I know that they set up
a new committee to re-evaluate the bids, but I don’t know if the process will
still be fair after what has happened.” However, sources in the presidency told THISDAY last night that
Nnaji had no choice than to resign, because had he failed to do so, he would
have been sacked by the president.
The
president, THISDAY learnt, was said to have been very disappointed that his
power minister, who should have known better, had gone ahead to bid for Enugu
Distribution Company, despite the Code of Ethics of the privatisation process
which bars staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and members of the
National Council on Privatisation (NCP) from buying shares in companies being
privatised. “The
president had made up his mind by this morning, so if Nnaji had not resigned,
he would have been sacked,” explained sources in the presidency. Participation by two
companies linked to Nnaji in the power privatisation process had compelled the
NCP to cancel the technical bid evaluation process conducted for Afam and Enugu
Disco last week. The
NCP, after its meeting last Friday, had announced the results of the technical
evaluation conducted for the 25 bids it received last month for the six
generation companies (Gencos).
From
that process, seven bidders were said to have successfully met the cut-off mark
of 750 and above during the technical evaluation process and were prequalified
to have their financial bids opened on September 25. However, the NCP was
silent on the bidders that were prequalified for Afam Power Station owing to
the potential conflict of interest that had arisen during the privatisation
process. An NCP
source said that before the consideration of the report of the evaluation,
Nnaji, who was a member of the NCP by virtue of his position as Minister of
Power, had brought it to the attention of the council that O & M Solutions
of Pakistan, a member of one of the consortia bidding for Afam, had worked as a
contractor for Geometric Power. The
consortium, in which O & M Solutions has a stake, is Skipper Nigeria
Limited, which had submitted technical and financial bids for Afam on July 17,
the deadline set by the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) for the submission
of bids for the Gencos. The
minister also notified the NCP that Geometric Power has a minority stake in
Eastern Electric Nigeria Limited, which had submitted technical and financial
bids for Enugu Distribution Company Limited on July 31.
He went
on to inform the council that owing to his position, he had notified the
president of his company’s bid for Enugu Disco, and brought it to their
attention that although he has an interest in Geometric Power, he had resigned
from its board and transferred his shares to a blind trust. Having been informed of
Nnaji’s direct and indirect interest in two companies being privatised, the
council decided to cancel the technical evaluation that had been conducted for
Afam and disbanded the evaluation team.
It also
decided to stop the evaluation of the Enugu Disco, which is still ongoing, and
would likewise disband the evaluation team. The decision to cancel the evaluation for both companies was
premised on the fact that all major stakeholders, including the former power
minister, had been asked to send nominees to participate in the evaluation
process.
Coincidentally,
Nnaji Tuesday afternoon had welcomed the NCP’s decision to disband the
evaluation teams and re-evaluate the technical bids submitted for Afam and
Enugu Discos in the wake of his admission that some members of the bidding
consortia has links to a company he owns.
Nnaji
said the NCP’s decision to re-evaluate the bids submitted by potential
investors for Afam and Enugu Discos was necessary considering that justice
should not only be done but also seen to have been done by all and sundry.
ThisDay
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