*** Labour expresses hope on reforms. President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday fired the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji, over an apparent conflict of interest in the on-going power sector privatisation programme. According to a twoparagraph statement issued last night by President Jonathan’s Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Dr. Rueben Abati, the President said he “has accepted the resignation with immediate effect of the Minister of Power, Prof. Barth Nnaji.” “President Jonathan thanks Prof. Nnaji for his services to the nation under the present administration and wishes him well in his future endeavours,” the statement added. Nnaji’s departure followed disclosure of his interest in some of the firms bidding for controlling interest in subsidiary companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, slated for privatisation. It was learnt that the minister was asked to step down to ensure that the privatisation process was seen to be fair and transparent, though he was not accused of any wrong doing. Nnaji had also been involved in a running battle with power sector workers over severance benefits and gratuity, which had threatened to derail the privatisation process.
The President was said to have been embarrassed by media reports of the proceedings at the meeting of the National Council of Privatisation, NCP, last Friday chaired by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, where a decision was taken to cancel the technical bid evaluation process conducted for Afam Generation Company Limited and Enugu Distribution Company Limited.
This was after Nnaji had told the council that O&M Solutions of Pakistan, members of one of the consortia bidding for the 776 megawatt Afam Power plant in Delta State, had worked for Geometric Power as a contractor. Nnaji is the founder of Geometric Power, which built a 22megawatt plant in Abuja and is also constructing another integrated power plant in Aba, Abia State.
The minister was also said to have informed the NCP that Geometric Power owns a minority stake in Eastern Electric Nigeria Limited, which had submitted technical and financial bids for Enugu Distribution Company Limited. As a result of the disclosures the minister had to leave the meeting to avoid participation in consideration of the bids, which were cancelled eventually as the minister’s nominee was on the evaluation team for the Enugu disco.
Nnaji had maintained that he had resigned his appointment in Geometric Power, transferred his shares to a blind trust since he was appointed as the president’s Special Adviser on Power and later as Minister of Power, and does not participate in the day-to-day operations of the company.
The NCP however announced that seven of the 25 bids it received last month for the six generation companies (Gencos) created from the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) had scaled the hurdle for the next round. The seven were said to have met the cut-off mark of 750 and above during the technical evaluation process and were prequalified to have their financial bids open on September 25.
The successful companies are: CMEC Energy and GPN Nestoil Power Services Limited for Sapele Power Company; Phoenix Electricity, Transcorp Consortium and Ampiron Power Distribution Limited, which bid for Ughelli Power Company. Others are: Ampiron Power Distribution Limited, Mainstream Energy Solution Limited and North South Power Company Limited which were prequalified for Geregu, Kainji and Shiroro Power Companies respectively.
In a swift reaction, the National Union of Electricity Employees, NUEE, General Secretary, Mr. Joe Ajaero, said the removal of Nnaji as Minister of Power by President Jonathan means the government is ready to proceed with the privatisation process of the power sector. He told our correspondent on telephone that if the removal of the former minister is what is required to move the sector forward, then the union have no quarrel with the President’s decision.
He admitted that workers in the sector had in the past called for the resignation or sack of Nnaji, adding that the decision to remove the minister is not coming as a surprise, moreso, when consideration is given to the gravity of the allegations and petitions against him.
On his part, the President of Senior Staff Association of Electricity and Allied Corporation, SSAEAC, Mr. Bede Opara, described the minister’s removal as capable of bringing the negotiations with government to a final close. Opara, who said that the association will comment fully on the matter in the coming days, said power sector workers are desirous of seeing Nigerians enjoying uninterrupted power supply.
Meanwhile, the ongoing discussions between the Federal Government and the electricity workers on severance benefits yesterday ended in a stalemate, as both parties could not agree on key issues.
At the meeting were the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator Anyim Pius Anyim; Minister of Labour and Productivity, Chief Emeka Wogu and representatives from the two labour centres, the Trade Union Congress, TUC, and Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC.
The meeting was again shifted to Wednesday (today) for further discussion. It would be recalled that both sides have been entangled in issues bothering on gratuity and pension payment for the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, workers; the drafting of military personnel to man major electricity installations in the country as well as open opposition to privatisation bid by the Federal Government.
Wogu simply said: “Tomorrow talks continue, that is all I have to say.” Shortly before other parties rose from the meeting, Nnaji left the meeting venue, with no words to reporters. Also, President of the TUC, Peter Esele, who spoke on behalf of other labour members, said both sides just established the necessary parameters that would set the tone for further discussion today.
“We held a discussion and as at this moment, I do not think we have come to any conclusion, and we are looking at meeting again tomorrow, by 4p.m. What we are requesting, we have made certain requests from PHCN management, we have also made certain requests from government which we are hoping would be made available tomorrow and that would help us to either move forward or to have a stalemate.
“Government made an offer and what they were talking about is that they want to pay 15 per cent from 2004–2012 while the other 25 per cent would be pre-pension act reform.
“But we are saying the defined benefits scheme that was available should still remain in place, so tomorrow we would look at all the naira and the kobo that would resort from that,” he said.
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