President Goodluck Jonathan, yesterday, ordered power minister Prof Barth Nnaji, to resign following an alleged involvement of two companies linked to him in the ongoing privatisation exercise in the power sector.
LEADERSHIP gathered that the president might have been embarrassed by media reports that the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) had to cancel the technical bid evaluation process conducted for Afam Generation Company Limited and Enugu Distribution Company Limited because of the minister's perceived personal interest and suspicion of lack of integrity.
The president's decision to sacrifice Nnaji might not be unconnected with the fact that he considered the ministry too sensitive to the transformation agenda and could not tolerate any rumour of unethical behavior.
A statement by the special adviser to the president on media and publicity, Dr. Reuben Abati, noted that Nnaji tendered his resignation letter, which Jonathan accepted with thanks.
The statement made available to LEADERSHIP last night reads in part, "President Goodluck Jonathan 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."
Reacting to the development, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) welcomed the sack of the minister and maintained that the congress stood by its earlier allegation that the minister embezzled over N942 million while in office.
The deputy president of NLC, Comrade Joe Ajaero, said "We had called for his resignation earlier over unethical practice and his refusal to pay us our entitlement."
Comrade Ajaero who is also the general secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE), however said that with the resignation of the minister, Jonathan could put in place independent investigators to probe the allegation of using PHCN money to pay the media and the Army.
"We had also called for Professor Nnaji's resignation over his employment of 20 people in Enugu Zone of PHCN who are his kith and kin as staff two years after the closing date of casual employment, close of PHCN biometrics exercise as well as his refusal to pay regularised casual staff their salaries since February 2012."
Lack of funds stalled power projects - Obasanjo
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo has said that his government could not solve the energy problem of the country because it lacked enough resources to do so eve after spending a whopping $16 billion on the sector with nothing to show for it.
"We had no money to even balance the budget," the former president stated while speaking at the August edition of the Nigerian Leadership Initiative Forum held in Lagos yesterday. He said "now if I had money I would have started working on power."
Obasanjo who nevertheless declared "I achieved all I wanted to achieve" also accused his successor of spending over $45 billion and N25 billion which he said his administration left in the external reserves and the excess crude account respectively.
The former president who was speaking on "Leadership Foundation and Underpinning" remarked: "When we were leaving, we left over $45 billion in external reserves and over N25 billion in the Excess Crude Account in case of rainy days, but immediately we left, they said the rain has come and spent it."
He said his administration had worked hard to rid the country of debt and get some savings for rainy days. According to him, when he came into power the country had about $3 billion in its reserve and was spending over $3 billion to service its over $35 billion debt.
Commenting on some of the inadequacies of political leaders in Africa, Obasanjo said acceptance of dishonesty as the only means of sustaining leadership position, excessive display of leadership arrogance, disrespect for the law, disrespect for superior values and ideas as well as inability to stay with and manager success were prominent.
"It appears that there is something in the African gene which makes him to forget how he has toiled to reach lofty heights. Once there, he dances and wines with all his fortunes only to crash into the bottomless pit of public disrespect," the former present declared.
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What a forum that was, the This Day Forum to discus the nations unending saga of incompetemce and monumental robbery of public money under Mr Jonathans Presidency. This oughtto be the appropriate title of this assembly of nation's rogues and shameless leaders. While commending This Day media for providing such avenue to `examine and discuss recurrent incompetence and looting in all branches of nation's social and economic fabric , this opportunity seem to have been highjacked by arrogant and incorigible ex leader whose past style of leadership left the nation with a future of unrelenting robbery and legitimized looting as the only way to go in Nigeria leadership. Jonathan is Obasanjos protegy and most Nigerians know this . That style of arogance almost earned him death sentence under his Military comrade Abacha who inprisoned him in his farm at Ota but for the intervention of Nigerian citizens . Such leader ought to see the big picture of a country he vowed to uphold it's dignity while promising to emulate African giants like Nelson Mandela to give his ultimate sacrifice to our ailing nation . While Mandela left South Africans with memories to remember , Obasanjo left Nigeria fragmented and broken . Corruption became the standard for public performance and robbery of public treasury have never been this bad in the nations history, not even under Sarduana of Sokoto and Akintola when national leaders signed their signatures with toes instead of hands and fingers . Not a shred of any moment did we hear the actual robbery from this nations petroleum product under the supervision of former Minister and Opec guru from the North was as much as 440 billion dollars ! Current debate about the continuity of paying subsidy for a local product in our own backyard send chilling acceptance of abject failure to my ears. I worked as a senior clerk in BP before leaving to study in Canada in 1974. Mr Oriola and I were strickly given the responsibily to co-ordinate petroleum procurement from varius company refineries all over Europe and the Tanerive Iasland . Here's the tragedy, Crude oil were being produced in this nation , but there was not single refinery to transform the product for our own use . They were being exported to centre which represent the home of these companies , Italy for Agip, BP for BritishShell for Dutch , Mobil for U.S.A and wherever their refineries were strategically built in parts of France and elsewhere.. We shared the petroleum containers to variious Oil marketing companies who then did small scale blending in plants within their compounds along Apapa depot . Mobil, Shell, Agip and BP all were drawing from same tanker when the nation was blind under timid economic dominatiion of these foreign companies . Meanwhile natural gas from Eleme near Port Harcourt was being flared relentlessly while natural gas was being also imported from by these dubious oil companies from homeland refineries. The circle of colonial economy was complete as numerous surplus "Experts " managerial gurus in petroleum manufacture were being dumped to Nigeria from these centree and periphery colonial power mentality . One of the development I heard going on then was the provision of various category of scholarships to young and aspiring intelligent youth within our citizens then so they could acquire the knowledge and knowhow to run necessary technology to ultimately take charge of the future of our petroleum refinery and management in the country . This is year 2012, over 40 years since then , why are we still talking of technological know how and the continuity of paying reckless and wasteful subsidy now and the future ? Something sinister must be going on this whooping expenditure which need revisit by sensitive national experts. Why is this nation so brutally intimidated by petroleum refinery which have been dealt with by the Chinese long ago ? India and Brazillian no longer depend on Foreign technology experts to manage these resources and why must we remain hostage to the dictates of foreing technical providers to take charge of major part of our economy.? Where are are all of our citizens who enjoyed these priviledges and promise to serve the interest of the nation ? . Why are we still talking of paying such useless waste which is eating very deep into the economic fabric of our natinal goals . Are we sure there's not the hands of our local and foreign junkies in this endless tragedy of subsidy payments ?. It is unfortunate the current debate did not take critical look at the origin of holding us bondage with subsidy palava when we have enough manpower to take this bull by our own hands . It would seem that past leaders from Obasanjo to Jonathan kept us under leash to bleed the nation only to fly such robbery to same foreign land where it keep creating economic advantage at our own peril . Lastly , if the only way to put end to the history of looting and econonmic crime in the nation is the introduction of the death penalty , why is any leader shy to do so to save the nation from further damage ?
Bravo Mr President! It should not stop here however. All assets he is alleged to have gained from this alliance must be returned to the people and by virtue of his position as a trusted servant of the people, face the stiffest prison time.