Nigerian Power Minister, Bart Nnaji Resigned

This is the first time a minister would be resigning under controversial circumstances since the inception of President Jonathan’s administration. But the Minister did not pick calls to his line or respond to a text message sent to him to clarify some of the issues leading to his exit.

Although no reason was given for Nnaji’s resignation or the prompt acceptance by Mr President, but it was widely believed to be connected with the role he played in the privatisation of the successor companies unbundled from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN, currently undergoing technical evaluations by prospective bidders.

Acceptance of bids re-evaluation

Ironically, earlier in the day, the Power Minister had succumbed to the decision by the National Council on Privatisation, NCP, to re-evaluate the technical bids submitted for two of the companies slated for privatisation: Afam Generation Company and Enugu Distribution Company (Enugu DISCO).

This might not be unconnected with moves, not only to save his job, but also to clear some of the controversies surrounding the bids, in which he was linked to the consortia that submitted bids for Afam and Enugu DISCO.

Nnaji was said to have admitted that some members of the bidding consortia had links to a company he owns (Aba-based, Geometric Power), adding that the NCP’s decision to re-evaluate the bids submitted for the two companies was necessary so that justice should not only be done but also seen to have been done by all and sundry.

He described recent accusations that he indirectly sought to acquire the PHCN successor companies through firms that have links to him as part of a grand design to dent the credibility of the privatisation process. He maintained that the development was a ploy by different interest groups in the sector to destabilise the ongoing power sector reform and privatisation process.

In a statement from his media aide, Mr. C. Don Adinuba, the minister said that a media report on Monday, alleging his participation in the privatisation process, was part of a strategy of such interest groups, adding that he was never asked by Vice President Namadi Sambo to walk out of the NCP meeting last Friday.

Rather, he maintained that he had opted to excuse himself from the meeting on the basis of his discovery that the firm in which he had placed his shares in a blind trust was part of the consortium bidding for Afam Power Station, in Rivers State.