Power Minister and renowned Robotic Scientist, Professor Barth Nnaji has been sacked over allegations bothering on conflict of interest and corruption.
Sources told pointblanknews.com in Abuja that the Minister was forced to resign over deluge of allegation of mismanagement of funds belonging to the Power Holding Company of Nigeria, PHCN.
Professor Nnaji was also alleged to have presented two companies he has interest in to bid for the Six Generation Companies, (Gencos.)
The Minister was linked to Geometric Power, a pioneering independent power producer and O & M Solutions of Pakistan, a member of one of the consortia bidding for Afam, which had worked as a contractor for Geometric Power.
President Goodluck Jonathan has equally accepted his resignation in a statement signed by Presidential Spokesman, Reuben Abati.
Electricity Union Accuses Nnaji, Minister of Power Of Spending N400 Million On Journalists
The National Union of Electricity Employees (NUEE) had on August 15 2012, called on Professor Barth Nnaji, the Power Minister, to resign immediately.
In a statement signed by Joe Ajaero, its General Secretary, the group cited Professor Nnaji’s “vituperation on the Workers, his fraudulent activities in the Power Sector and unnecessarily putting Nigerians under tension as characterized by his myriads of misinformation.”
They also demanded that he explain, before the end of Friday August 17, his role or activities in relation to several issues, including:
N395m collected from PHCN allegedly for the Media, for 3 months; N280m collected from PHCN allegedly for Nigeria Army; N200m collected from PHCN allegedly for Unknown Project in the Power Ministry; N86m collected from PHCN allegedly for a bullet -proof vehicle; N3m collected from PHCN and donated to Enugu State University of Technology (ESUT); and Employment of 20 people in Enugu Zone of PHCN who are his kith and kins as staff two years after the closing date of casual employment and close of PHCN biometrics exercise.
“He should also explain to Nigerians why we have been collecting Pension and Gratuity from 1972 till June 2012 based on 25 percent, and why his reform tends to short change the workers,” the statement said, adding that the development confirms the fears of workers in the power sector that Nnaji’s reform is aimed at strangulating workers.
However, the National Council on Privatization, NCP, last Friday, had announced the results of the technical evaluation conducted for the 25 bids it received last month for the six generation companies (Gencos) created from the unbundling of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN).
From that process, seven bidders were said to have successfully met the cut-off mark of 750 and above during the technical evaluation process and were prequalified to have their financial bids open on September 25.
They are: Phoenix Electricity, Transcorp Consortium and Ampiron Power Distribution Limited, which bid for Ughelli Power Company; CMEC Energy and GPN Nestoil Power Services Limited for Sapele Power Company; while Ampiron Power Distribution Limited, Mainstream Energy Solution Limited and North South Power Company Limited were prequalified for Geregu, Kainji and Shiroro Power Companies respectively.
Nnaji, is an innovator and one of the inventors of the E-Design concept.
He was born in Enugu State, and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics at St John’s University, and then moved to the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University for post-graduate studies.
He joined the faculty at University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1983.
After a few years, he became the director and a founder of the Automation and Robotics Laboratory at the University. He was made a professor of mechanical and industrial engineering in 1992. As a researcher, he focused on three major topics: Computer Aided Design, Robotics and Computer Aided Engineering. Using the knowledge he gained from his research pursuits, he created the term geometric reasoning, the idea that most things we operate has a geometric configuration. He is also credited as one of the innovators of the E-design concept.
He is also the founder of the first indigenous owned power generating company in Nigeria and was also a former minister for Science and Technology in the country.
He ran in the 2007 Nigerian presidential election as the candidate for the Better Nigeria Party.