Forces Working Against Power Sector Reform, Says Manitoba; Contract cancellation’ll affect confidence –NSE

Canadian firm, Manitoba Hydro, whose $24m management contract for the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, was cancelled on Tuesday by President Goodluck Jonathan, said yesterday that some forces were working against the administration’s power sector reform programme.

The company spoke just as the Nigerian Society of Engineers, NSE, expressed fears that the cancellation could send negative signals about the reforms and erode the confidence in the power sector and Nigeria in general.

“We had a clear contract and we were meant to be given delegation of authority … but that didn’t happen,” Don Priestman, the head of the Manitoba-run TCN told Reuters on phone.

“There are forces working against the reform,” he added, saying a similar contract Manitoba had in Kenya was working well.

Both the Ministry of Power and the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, declined to comment on the matter when contacted by National Mirror yesterday.

NSE President, Mr. Balarabe Shehu, said that the implication of such decisions was far- reaching, saying it might engender loss of confidence in the industry.

Shehu, who spoke at the NSE Maitama branch’s Second Engineering Week yesterday in Abuja, noted that there was nothing wrong in cancelling what was found to be fundamentally wrong.

He, however, warned that steps should be taken to ensure that appropriate penalties were meted out to persons who created the anomaly.

“I just learnt with dismay this morning that the management contract of TCN Manitoba has been cancelled.

“If something is fundamentally wrong, it has to be cancelled but then what happens to the person that did that thing wrong?

“I think things are being done wrong repeatedly because nothing is being done about it.

“If people are penalised for what they do, the next person will not do it. And also the implication of such decisions is far-reaching because there will be loss of confidence in the country, and in the industry, that is our concern,” he said.

The NSE boss, who decried government’s penchant in changing leadership in the power sector, noted that the exercise did not encourage continuity and progress in the industry.

He likened power sector to a laboratory where experiments are being carried out, stressing that the sector remains the only industry where anybody could be sent to lead, no matter the qualifications or experience.

“The power industry as we see it today has become a laboratory where so many experiments are being carried out, so many trials and errors.

“I think the industry should not be subjected to such kind of experiment,” he added.

Shehu insisted that Nigerian engineers were not afraid of privatisation and called for sincerity and transparency in the process. “Once it is not sincere and credible, things like these would be happening and the country will remain standstill.”

He said that NSE was always ready and willing to partner with the government and contribute in solving the problems of the power sector.

But the Presidency said President Jonathan annulled the deal because “due process was not followed in the award of the contract.”

Also speaking, General Secretary of the National Union of Electricity Employees, (NUEE), Mr. Joe Ajaero, told National Mirror that President Jonathan has to immediately implement the decision of the National Assembly on not just the termination of agreement with Manitoba contract but every other transaction the Bureau of Public Enterprises, BPE, has engaged in.

Ajaero, who is also the Vice President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, said also that the BPE should be stopped from the sale of more of government properties or assets

According to him, the termination of the management contract with government is the right thing to do, because the privatisation process is a rip off of Nigerians.

He said that the whole exercise of privatisation, is a ruse, and lacking integrity, while also calling for a review of the process from the beginning.

Manitoba Hydro International had been selected by the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) to run TCN for three years, with the option to extend for another two years following a competitive bidding processing involving technical and financial proposals in which it defeated Power Grid of India.

The deal was the first to be sealed under the ongoing power sector privatisation, which began in 2007, but had come under severe criticism by workers unions and officials of the Ministry of Power.

Presidency sources said that the decision to cancel the contract was based on a memo sent by the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, which for several weeks, had been pushing for its cancellation on the premise that it did not pass through due process as provided under the Public Procurement Act.

The Director General of the BPP, Mr. Emeka Eze, was said to have kicked against the appointment of Manitoba because of certain irregularities had been noticed in the process that led to the company’s selection.

Eze, in his memo, had informed the president that a management contract was distinct from a privatisation transaction or concession, and since the procurement of all Federal Government contracts, including those covering professional services are covered by the Public Procurement Act; the BPE should not have superintended the selection process.

The source said the BPP DG picked holes in the contract, querying why the designated managing director was 57 years old, which he felt was too old, insisting that the contract be cancelled because the BPE had misled the NCP by procuring the management contractor.

Eze was also said to have insisted that if the BPP had overseen the procurement of the contractor, it is the Federal Executive Council, FEC, that should have approved the selection of Manitoba based on the BPP’s recommendation.

Source: National Mirror