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 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.
Culled from THISDAY
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