From DENNIS MERNYI, Abuja
Former Minister of Power, Prof. Barth O. Nnaji, has expressed heartfelt gratitude to President Goodluck Jonathan and to millions of Nigerians who him in his effort to improve power supply in Nigeria in his 14 months as minister.
Nnaji, who resigned late Tuesday from the Jonathan cabinet in unclear circumstances, said he resigned at a time the power sector had found its bearing and was fast improving.
“I feel particularly proud of the fact that my exit comes at a time that the administration has been able to generate and supply an unprecedented quantum of steady, reliable electric power in the history of our nation,” he said in a statement.
Prof. Nnaji stated that not many Nigerians have had the privilege of serving the nation twice as minister and that he was grateful to have served the government in the capacity of an adviser and a ranking cabinet minister in a very challenging and complex sector.
“I am confident enough to allow history and the Nigerian people to judge my performance on the task that I accepted from the president,” he said.
Before his appointment as Minister of Power, Nnaji was the Special Adviser on Power to President Goodluck Jonathan and Chairman of the Presidential Task Force on Power.
He had in 1993 served as Minister of Science and Technology.
Nnaji said he had to voluntarily resign the office of minister to retain his integrity, which had in recent days come under scurrilous attacks by powerful vested interests that were hell bent on besmirching the integrity and reputation that he had painstakingly built over the years.
“This resignation is also to ensure that there is no spillover of these attacks to the President, who is working very hard to transform the nation,” he said
Nnaji added: “I would like to reiterate that before I accepted to serve as minister, I resigned my directorship of all companies that I had interest in and put my shares in those companies in a Blind Trust; this means that I was not privy to the day-to-day business decisions of those who ran this Trust.
“In addition, I publicly declared the participation in the privatization process of a foreign company that did business with a company that I had interest in. This fact came to my knowledge only during the course of evaluating the consortia that were bidding for PHCN successor companies. Consequently, I also voluntarily excused myself from participating in the selection process.
“These actions, I should think, are in line with the finest traditions of transparency and accountability in governance.”
Prof. Nnaji said his resignation will give him the opportunity to go back to his integrated power projects, which had been designed to accelerate the development of the nation.
He paid glowing tribute to the staff of the Ministry of Power, the Power Holding Company of Nigeria and other agencies for their dedication to duty, hard work, patriotism and commitment to the common good, which he said had, in spite of all odds, completely moved the power sector in a new direction to the benefit of Nigerians.
He enjoined the staff of the ministry and its agencies to remain focused on the objective of delivering reliable, steady power to the nation and to accord his successor the same level of cooperation and commitment to achieve the goal.
Nnaji also expressed gratitude to Nigerians from all parts of the country and even abroad for their ceaseless messages of support and solidarity since his resignation was announced.
SOURCE: 30 August 2012 .
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