http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/privatisation-bids-cancelled-over-firms-linked-to-nnaji/123388/

Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji

By Chineme Okafor

Participation by two companies linked to the Minister of Power, Professor Bart Nnaji, in the power privatisation process has compelled the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to cancel the technical bid evaluation process conducted for Afam Generation Company Limited and Enugu Distribution Company Limited.

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) created from the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).

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 open on September 25.

They are: Phoenix Electricity, Transcorp Consortium and Ampiron Power Distribution Limited, which bid for Ughelli Power Company; CMEC Energy and GPN Nestoil Power Services Limited for Sapele Power Company; while Ampiron Power Distribution Limited, Mainstream Energy Solution Limited and North South Power Company Limited were prequalified for Geregu, Kainji and Shiroro Power Companies respectively.

However, THISDAY learnt that the NCP was silent on the bidders that were prequalified for the Afam Power Station owing to the potential conflict of interest that had arisen during the privatisation process.

An NCP source informed THISDAY that before the consideration of the report of the evaluation, Nnaji, who is 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.

Other companies that bid for Afam, a power plant in Rivers State with an installed capacity of 776mw, are Primeniza Energy Limited and NPG Consortium.

The minister further 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 also informed the council that owing to his position, he had notified President Goodluck Jonathan of his company’s bid for Enugu Distribution Company, 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.

Nnaji had on several occasions maintained that since his appointment as the president’s Special Adviser on Power and later as Minister of Power, he had resigned his appointment in Geometric Power, transferred his shares to a blind trust and does not participate in the day-to-day operations of the company.

Geometric Power, a pioneering independent power producer, was set up by Nnaji and built the 22mw Emergency Power Plant in Abuja. It is in the process of rounding off the construction of an integrated power plant in Aba, Abia State.

Following this disclosure, Nnaji was said to have excused himself from the consideration of the report of the technical bids.

Having been informed of Nnaji’s direct and indirect interest in two companies being privatised, the NCP source said that 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, the source explained, was premised on the fact that all major stakeholders in the power privatisation process had been asked to send nominees to participate in the evaluation process.

“The BPE had a nominee, the power minister sent a nominee, NERC (Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission) sent a nominee, NIAF (Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Fund) sent a nominee, and BPE advisers sent nominees.

“So the council had no way of guaranteeing that the minister’s nominee, during the evaluation of the technical bids, was not biased,” the NCP source said.

He added that it was on this basis that the NCP decided to cancel the technical bid evaluation process for Afam and Enugu (which is still ongoing), and that other evaluation teams, without the minister’s nominees, would be reconstituted to re-evaluate the bids submitted for the PHCN successor companies.

He said the evaluation process for Afam is not expected to exceed three days, adding that the report should reach the NCP either this week or early next week, while that of Enugu would be submitted alongside the report of other Discos.

The source said NCP had taken the decision because it was imperative for the process to be transparent and fair, as any hiccup could mar the entire programme.

However, it is uncertain if NCP’s decision to re-evaluate the bid submitted for the Enugu Disco would still comply with the rules of the privatisation programme.

Providing clarification on the rules of the privatisation process, which the NCP had approved during his tenure as Director General of the BPE, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai, said although the Public Enterprises (Privatisation and Commercialisation) Act, 1999, does not bar staff of the BPE and council members from participating in the process, the Code of Ethics does so.

According to him, “The Code of Ethics, which the NCP approved during my tenure as a subsidiary legislation, as permitted under the Act, prohibits staff of the BPE and every member of the council, whether statutory or co-opted, from participating in the purchase of shares through the privatisation programme.

“This was approved by NCP and I am certain the present DG can provide you with the Code of Ethics, if you want it.”

From what I can glean, Nnaji did hint the NCP of the potential clash of interest
So by normal standard, he either resigns or recuses his companies from the bid.
I guess he chose to resign and make money instead as a contractor

This is the right thing to do. Whenever your personal interest encroaches on your ability to discharge official functions, you have no other rational option than to go, unless you are willing to discard that personal interest.

Nnaji lived in a society where things work that way.

Plus, the fact that he even had to leave is a credit to GEJ that he is not averse to preventing corruption.

Nigeria seems to be working, slowly, painfully, but surely.

But on a second note, the fact that Barth had been a minister gives him a headstart over other bidders, since he has inside info that others may not have that may work in his favor. Head or tail, there is either a conflict of interest or undue advantage for him. It is difficult to say what the man should do. Should he forgo both his ministerial appointment and the bid for his companies? money or national service? In Nigeria of today, most people will go for the money; after all, it is a legit contract.

he may have resigned because his position will conflict with the bidding process
he may have been offered the option of resigning or removing his companies
he chose to resign

if i were him i would resign too
i will still win the bids
power ministry can't beat real business opportunity offered by his company

FSU: But on a second note, the fact that Barth has been a minister gives him a headstart over other bidders, since he has inside info that others may not have athat may work in his favor. Head or tail there is either a conflict of interest or undue advantage for him. It is difficult to say what the man should do now. Should he forgo but his ministerial appointment as well as the bid for his companies?

that is where there might be a problem.

re@lchange:
if i were him i would resign too
i will still win the bids
power ministry can't beat real business opportunity offered by his company

As long as he delivers on the contracts he is awarded, I have no problem with that. His impact is felt nationwide, despite his short stay in office.

re@lchange:
if i were him i would resign too
i will still win the bids
power ministry can't beat real business opportunity offered by his company

you are as wise as barth nnaji! Those two companies would win the bid.and if they do,it would be because they are competent and well qualified to and not because barth nnaji is a minister! And this is what the hypocrite opposition parties would us as a propoganda against the FG good move nnaji.for those who say GEJ is clueless IN YOUR FACE hAhA!!!

Jon.Bee:
I share the ethusiasm of all of you.

Afterall, is this not the country that cannot refine its own crude but can launch Satellites i.e Nigsatcom 1,2 & very soon 3?
A country that cannot generate enough electricity for each nationals to light a 20 Watts bulb each?

Prof BARTH NNAJI that I know (I know very well, professionally)
, an erudite scholar
, a warm nice approachable guy
, but clueless about power sector set-up
, a cheap big talking illusionist
, a profiteer, a roundtripper, a kickback collector, tax collector/ extortionist bully a la nigerian IG of police. hence a big contributor to the mess e.g taking percentage from money released to phcn for projects
, a potential gainer from selling the NEPA to the cabal @ undervalued price

After revealing all this, do I still joined the rest of >90% of Nigerians ('somnabulists') in ''dreaming & hoping'' or is it ''suffering & smiling''?
NO!!!!

Nnaji is a member of the cabal

rofessor Barth Nnaji

By Yemi Ajayi

Professor Barth Nnaji, a world-acclaimed scientist, moved on in life Tuesday with his resignation as Nigeria’s Minister of Power. In a country where top public office holders rarely resign, his exit from the post that he had held since 2011, would shock many.

As the circumstances that led to his resignation unravel, an egregious sense of triumphalism will suffuse workers of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) who had battled Nnaji for a long time over his fidelity to the privatisation and reform of the power sector that the former minister had doggedly championed.

Nnaji came in at a critical time in Nigeria’s power sector.

The man, who made a name for himself as an innovator and one of the inventors of the e-design concept, had given his all to revamp a sector that had suffered decades of neglect under successive administrations. He was an intrepid administrator, who was not afraid to take on the entrenched vested interests in the power sector that have frustrated previous efforts to redeem a sector that remains critical to the nation’s economy.

Given the fact that he was not a newcomer to the peculiarities of governance in Nigeria, Nnaji, who was a Minister of Science and Technology under the administration of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, and before his appointment as Power Minister, Special Adviser on Power to President Goodluck Jonathan, knew he was treading on mine fields for keeping faith with the privatisation of the power sector, a task he had started as Jonathan’s special adviser.

In 2010, the president had appointed Nnaji head of a presidential taskforce to reform the power sector. A blueprint designed to end the chronic power shortages in the country showed that the Federal Government has to fork out $10 billion yearly for the next decade for the power sector restoration in a country where, according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), organisations and individuals spend $13 billion a year to fuel generator sets.


In his one-year tenure, he had superintended over the management of the power sector, resulting in the improvement in power generation, a review of electricity tariffs to make the sector attractive to private investors and supervised the establishment of the Bulk Trading Company of Nigeria, among other market structures necessary for the reform of the power sector.

During his tenure, Nnaji, who once told THISDAY Board of Editors that he met 2,800mw of power delivered to the grid, had planned to ensure that available capacity hits 5,400mw this year, especially with the Federal Government’s serious efforts to address the issue of gas shortages. As at June, the nation was generating over 4,400mw.

However, the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) was at loggerheads with him and had devised all means possible, including levelling what many have considered as spurious allegations against Nnaji. About two weeks ago, the union, in a statement by its General Secretary, Joe Ajaero, called on Nnaji to resign. He nevertheless, remained unbowed.

He had strived to remain above board, given the fact that before his appointment, he was a major player in the power sector. Nnaji, who founded Geometric Power Limited (GPL), a pioneering independent power producer that built the 22mw Emergency Power Plant in Abuja and is rounding off the construction of an integrated power plant in Aba, Abia State, voluntarily declared his interest in the firm, which is a member of a consortium that had submitted bids for the acquisition of Enugu Distribution Company Limited under the privatisation process.

However, since his appointment as the president’s Special Adviser on Power and later as minister, he had resigned his appointment from GPL board and transferred his shares to a blind trust.

With his resignation Tuesday, he is now free to pursue his other interests, but will definitely still remain an active player in the power sector, albeit as a private sector participant.

Nnaji, 51, was born in Enugu State. He holds a Doctorate in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in the United States of America.

He vied for the presidency in 2007 on the platform of the Better Nigeria Party.

Tags: News, Nigeria, Featured, PHCN, Barth Nnaji

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