IS PROF BART NNAJI A MAN OF HIS WORDS?
By Benny Alli
On Monday, Manitoba Hydro, a Canadian firm formally put pen to paper and signed a contract that will see it run TCN for the next three years in the first instance. This is a significant step. A giant step towards delivering on promises a man made some months ago.

Rewind back to the months of March, April and May, which saw a flurry of activities organised by the ministry of Power. Conferences, Town Hall meetings and events were held all in a bid to tell Nigerians that this time it is different. That this administration is ready to put sword to the neck of this hydra-headed monster called power outage and get it right for once.

Prof Nnaji, rather than send an aide embarked on this journey himself. Criss-crossing the length and breath of our dear nation. From Kano to Lagos he went and from Enugu to Sokoto he travelled. Putting his life on the line and his comfort to one side all in a bid to inform Nigerians about the holistic turnaround in the power sector the Nation is embarking upon. Always at pain to emphasise that it a journey of no retreat no surrender.

This made me sit up and take notice as I had never seen a government official embark on the kind of sensitization journey Prof Bart Nnaji went on in convincing us that a tariff review in prices we pay to PHCN is necessary and why privatization of generation and distribution is important. He went truly and above the call of duty and if he could had gone to the moon and back to make sure we got the information, he would had gone

He made series of promises about how things are being put in place; the investment by the government, and how the sector is attracting foreign investors from the World Bank and stakeholders from Brazil to Canada. His message then was that many of these investors, for the first time, has seen some sincerity in this administration commitment in getting the power situation right in Nigeria.

The dams not getting enough water because of low rainfall, shortage of gas supply to power some of the plants, he also cited as some of the problems.

He told us that from June, we would begin to see real improvement in generation and the impact of the process and that by December it would have increased dramatically

Some sector of the estate of the fourth realm in their characteristic pessimism turned up their nose and saw some of the statement as “another Government propaganda, a charade whose ember will not last the cold night. Some stopped short of calling him a liar

Fast-forward June 2012 and what I am seeing is convincing me that this man called Bart Nnaji is truly a man of his words.

Last night, a friend of mine sauntered into my apartment and in a serious tone, told me that he is very furious with Bart Nnaji. Why? I asked him. He looked at me like am wacko and said off-handedly. “That professor guy is beginning to teach my electronics how to work and they hadn’t been used to that kind of work.” How is Bart Nnaji responsible for your electronics working overtime? I asked casually. Now really worried for the mental health of my friend. He continued as if he didn’t hear me. “Prior to June, my refrigerator has been used to working only a few hours in a week, my AC could go days without working not to talk of my washing machine because there is no electricity to power them. But since last month, my refrigerator has been working non stop. Power only go out for a few minutes or 2 hours at most and is restored. Now my refrigerator and AC are made to do things they are not used to…and that Professor Nnaji is responsible because power has significantly increased. That’s when I got the joke and I went berserk with laughter.

This made me sit up and took a long hard look on my energy saver bulb, turned on the switch, smiled, shook my head and took another peek at my freezer which is doing what it is made to do…freeze….I turned to my friend and told him that he is right, we all have Prof Bart Nnaji to blame for making our electronics work overtime. We laughed out loud, grabbed some ice-cold beer from the fridge and went upstairs to relax

On a serious note, most of my friends and colleagues report the same thing. There is a general consensus that the man Bart Nnaji did not lie when he looked us in the eyes and told us that power will begin to significantly improve from the month of June. I live in Lagos and I am typing this using light graciously provided by PHCN and my computer has not gone off all day. My generator must be wondering if am broke as I have not powered it on for a few days.

This has given me hope for the future. With Manitoba Hydro taking over the running of transmission and no staff of TCN loosing their job, I am excited and now truly believe that every other event in the power road map will be executed.

NB: I read in the papers today that many companies had beaten the BPE deadline and submitted bids for the acquisition of the power plant. According to some papers, a total of 25 prospective investors have submitted technical and financial bids for the six electricity generation companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN. The next stage of the privatization exercise, according to the spokesman of the BPE, Mr. Chukwuma Nwoko, will be the harvest of the bidders’ technical and financial proposals for distribution companies. It has July 31, 2012 as deadline.
The transaction timeline also reveals that the evaluation of the technical bids will take place between August 14 and 28, 2012. The National Council on Privatization, NCP, will approve the results of the technical evaluation on/or before September 11, 2012.
The deadline for the shortlisted bidders for generation companies to submit their letters of credit is September 18, 2012 while October 2, 2012 is for shortlisted bidders for distribution companies.
The BPE will, between September 25, 2012 and October 10, 2012, open the financial bids of prospective investors for the privatization of the successor companies.

My heart beats with excitement because the private sector involvement in power is the only thing that can give us a 24 hour power supply in this great country of ours

Successive government had sunk too much into the sector with too little to show for it. Issues of sabotage, corruption and the”no be my papa work” mentality had ruled for far too long. It is time to break the old order and Prof Nnaji, like my pastor will say “is in the spirit”. He has the will and determination to see this through.

We are not there yet and it not yet the pie in the sky moment we crave. But events of the past few days had convinced me that a high-speed train of events has been set in motion. A train that isn’t stopping until it reaches it final destination.


What other sector is crying for the intervention of Prof Bart Nnaji? Because as far as am concerned, he has set in motion the wheel for a sustainable improvement in power generation, transmission and distribution in Nigeria.

Now is Bart Nnaji a man of his words? The evidence is there for you to make an informed decision. What do you think? Please send us your comment via koboproductions@gmail.com

Benny Alli
Lagos

The severance pay of the workers should not be ignored, otherwise labour unrest may result. That will of course cripple d ongoing reform