Govt officials clash over Enugu power firm sale

Vice-President Namadi Sambo

Senior government officials in charge of the privatisation of government owned enterprises are currently locked in a cold war over the sale of the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company.

Investigations by our correspondent showed that the Technical Committee of the National Council on Privatisation has not been able to meet despite pending  issues following the alleged failure of the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Enterprises to facilitate the meeting.

The  committee currently chaired by the Chairman of IBTC Stanbic Bank, Mr. Atedo Peterside, advises and supervises the privatisation agency.

In a letter, a copy of which was obtained by our correspondent on Wednesday, Peterside told the 20 members of the committee who had been itching for a meeting that the DG of BPE, Mr. Benjamin Dikki, was frustrating such a gathering.

Attempts to speak to Dikki failed as he neither picked calls to his mobile telephone number nor responded to a text message.

The spokesman for the BPE, Mr. Chigbo Anichebe, similarly did not respond to enquiries by our correspondent.

The PUNCH had exclusively reported that Peterside and Dikki were divided on a possible extension of time for the preferred bidder for the Enugu Electricity Distribution Company, Interstate Electric, to pay the balance of 75 per cent of the bid price.

Peterside had insisted that it was wrong for Interstate to get an extension and that the reserve bidder, Eastern Electric, should be invited to take the slot since Interstate failed to abide by the terms of the bidding transaction process.

In the letter to the members, Peterside alleged that all attempts he had made to convene a meeting of the technical committee had been frustrated by Dikki.

He wrote, “Many of  you contacted me recently to enquire why a Technical Committee meeting has not been called to consider and deliberate upon updates on the PHCN privatisation.

“My understanding has always been that it is the chairman of a committee that decides when it is appropriate to call a meeting, having considered possible agenda items and the need to dispense with them promptly with a view to achieving the broader objectives/mission of that committee.

“The reason we are unable to meet is because the DG of BPE, who controls the BPE’s budget and, therefore, releases funds to pay for hotel bills and sitting allowances, has surreptitiously vetoed all my efforts to convene a meeting of our technical committee of recent.

“His latest ploy was to copy me on a text he purportedly sent to His Excellency, the Vice President, requesting approval for our committee to be allowed to meet and refusing to give me any feedback even after I gave him (the DG) 24 hours within which to revert to me. He did not reply my e-mail and did not even bother to explain why he did not reply.”

He added, “As you are all aware, the Technical Committee serves as an advisory/due-process watchdog over  the BPE, and we are accountable to the NCP. Accordingly, I find the DG’s surreptitious attempt to keep us in the dark objectionable in the extreme.

“For the record, I do not believe for one second that the DG is acting on instructions from above. His body language and enthusiastic evasiveness suggest that he is the initiator who has pro-actively been looking for ways to avoid having to transparently table issues/updates before this technical committee.

“In the circumstances, there will be no meetings of the Technical Committee until further notice. Members should please, therefore, stop calling me to ask why a meeting has not been convened. I will revert with additional feedback after carrying out further investigations/consultations with the relevant higher authorities.”

Peterside had in an earlier letter to Dikki argued that granting an extension to Interstate would amount to granting the company a discount and also degrade the integrity of the power privatisation process.

The owner of Interstate, Mr. Emeka Offor, is believed to be a close associate of Vice-President Namadi Sambo, who chairs NCP, while Eastern Electric is being promoted by a former Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji.