Sam Hart
When President Goodluck Jonathan unveiled names of his ministerial nominees at the outset of his substantive tenure last year, I wrote an article where I singled out three of his nominees for praise and expressed confidence in their ability to deliver. The three Ministers then were Chief Emeka Wogu of the Labour Ministry, Dr. Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala of the Finance Ministry and Prof. Barth Nnaji of the Ministry of Power. I expressed confidence in their ability to deliver, stemming from my personal interactions with them and their proven pedigree. I still stand by my convictions.
The papers have told the story of the resignation or forced exit of Prof. Barth Nnaji from the Ministry of Power and all kinds of theories have been woven around his departure. From insinuations of attempting to benefit from the system he was overseeing to other high-wire intrigues and conspiracy theories, they have been thoroughly fleshed out to warrant a rehash here.
My two-pence on the raging debate is to seek clarification on what we really want in Nigeria. Those who pontificate on having the panacea to the problems of crass incompetence, corruption and avarice plaguing official quarters have advocated that only individuals who have excelled in their private endeavours and who have an alternative source of income should be elected and appointed into plum government positions to minimise the rate at which our economy is being pillaged and run aground.
I share this sentiment as I believe that an individual who has passionately driven a private business to success in the hostile Nigerian business environment is better positioned to drive key sectors of our economy instead of appointing professional politicians who will see the appointment as an S. M. Afolabi invitation to ‘come and chop’.
Prof. Barth Nnaji made his name outside the shores of this country as an academic and highly sought after professor of a rare and highly technical field of study. He excelled in that endeavour. He returned to Nigeria and pioneered private investments and efforts in the power sector by successfully building a power plant in Abuja, which is still working till date. He took his vision further by embarking on an ambitious high-risk enterprise of building an Independent Power Plant, the first privately owned Independent Power Plant in the history of Nigeria, the Geometric Power Plant, at Aba, Abia State.
It is incontestable that it was because of his exploits in the power sector that Nnaji was appointed into the Presidential Advisory Council by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan upon his assumption of office as acting President. When he was appointed to head the Power Sector Advisory Sub-Committee of the PAC, Prof. Nnaji proffered such a far-reaching, comprehensive and holistic solution to the seemingly intractable power-sector conundrum that even when the Presidential Advisory Council submitted its report and technically completed its mandate, Prof. Nnaji was retained as Special Adviser to the President on Power and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power. It was from his Special Advisory position that he was appointed the substantive Minister of Power at the outset of the Jonathan full tenure in 2011.
It is incontestable that the power situation in Nigeria has since improved. The efforts did not just stop at raising the generation capacity of the nation, efforts were launched and religiously followed to achieve a sustainable and permanent solution to the power problem via privatisation of power assets and unbundling of the behemoth Power Holding Company of Nigeria Plc to create smaller successor companies.
A timeline was drawn for the completion of various stages of the reform programme and despite all kinds of opposition from labour unions and interest groups, Prof. Nnaji trudged on and with a conviction and passion uncommon within official circles in Nigeria. He dedicated himself to the task ahead.
This was the state of affairs until one evening when news went viral that Prof. Nnaji had resigned his appointment as the Minister of Power, ostensibly on grounds of conflict of interest arising from the participation of his company and a company he had transacted business with in time past in the bid process for some of the unbundled power assets.
Prof. Nnaji as we all know had a power company playing prominently in the power sector long before his engagement with government. Upon his appointment into government, he resigned from direct control of these companies and transferred his existing shares in them into a blind trust. Geometric Power Company, to the best of my knowledge, was already in pole position to compete for any of the power assets whenever the government decided to unbundle them. It had the pedigree, man-power, technical expertise and international finance back-bone to play big long before their principal joined government.
Now my question: Should Prof. Nnaji have closed down Geometric Power with over 1,000 direct and indirect staff shortly after accepting to serve his fatherland? Should Geometric Power have stopped being a power company and started poultry farming to avoid a conflict of interest with his duties? Or should it have relocated to Ghana so as not to operate in the same environment with their former boss?
Prof. Nnaji willfully disclosed that Geometric Power had a minority stake in Eastern Electric Company bidding for the Enugu Distribution Company of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria. He also willfully disclosed that O & M of Pakistan bidding for Afam Power Company had once done business with Geometric.
Note that Prof. Nnaji wasn’t found out by any investigative body. Note also that he excused himself from sitting in on bids where his company or those he had interest in were competing. What really did we want him to do? Pray?
I am hard pressed to point out that no kobo of government has been lost in this process. Officials of government who presided over ministries and agencies where monumental corruption has been uncovered and culprits are facing the law are still sitting pretty in their offices while someone who willfully came forward to declare his interest in companies willing to do business with government is asked to resign his appointment or face sack!
So what if Prof had fronted a separate company or international consortium for the purposes of covering his tracks? What if he had sought other means of subverting the system? Would we have been any the wiser? Is honesty no longer the best policy?
I hasten to clarify that yes the involvement of Geometric Power in the bidding process presents a conflict of interest for Prof. Nnaji but this is a company he has built over the years and they are leading players in the sector in question. They are immensely qualified to bid for these companies as indeed they have been poised to do long before Prof joined government. It just seems unfair that the company should suffer because its founder is now in government.
If Geometric Power stays away from all power sector related dealings with government to avoid conflict of interest with Prof, at the end of his stint in government, what would be the state of the company he is expected to return to? The company would then be poorer than it was before he joined government. That to me is a tragedy and must be addressed squarely.
My submission thus is that a template must be worked out that enables the companies belonging to individuals tapped to join the government to continue doing business with government in spite of their principal’s involvement with government. There has to have been a way Geometric Power could have played in the power sector unbundling even with Prof sitting as Minister if they genuinely and competently meet the requirements for such involvement without either Prof or Geometric suffering. It is only when this template is worked out and the modalities are addressed that we would have assured professionals running businesses that it is okay for them to leave their businesses to serve in government without they or their businesses suffering.
Until such a template is worked out, we will have to make do with come and chop politicians or unscrupulous professionals who will set up front companies to circumvent the system and benefit from the system they are overseeing. I still submit without equivocation that I still remain proud to uphold Prof. Nnaji as a mentor and role model who has the determination and will to identify a positive goal and pursue it to its logical conclusion. Until irrefutable proof of criminal complicity and avaricious infractions on his part are brought to the fore, my conviction remains unchanged.
So help us God.
Hart wrote from hartng@gmail.com.