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Home   >   Goverment   >   I Resigned Due to Allegations of Impropriety – Barth Nnaji Speaks

I Resigned Due to Allegations of Impropriety – Barth Nnaji Speaks

By on August 29, 2012

The following is the entire content of the Press Release by Former minister of Power sent to BusinessNews this afternoon.

Prof. Bart O. Nnaji has expressed heartfelt gratitude to President Goodluck Jonathan and to millions of Nigerians who have supported him in his robust effort to improve the situation of public power supply in Nigeria these past 14 months as Minister of Power.

“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 is grateful to have served this 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, Prof. 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 in the capacity of Minister of Science and Technology.

He explained that he had to voluntarily resign the office of minister to retain his integrity which has in recent days come under scurrilous attacks by powerful vested interests that were hell bent on besmirching the integrity and reputation that he has 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

“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 recused 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 that his resignation gives him the opportunity to go back to his integrated power projects which have been designed to accelerate the development of the nation.

He paid a glowing tribute to the staff of the Ministry of Power, Power Holding Company of Nigeria and other agencies for their “dedication to duty, hard work, patriotism and commitment to the common good which have, in spite of all odds, completely moved the power sector in a new direction to the benefit of all our people”

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 in order to achieve the goal.

Prof. 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 yesterday.

 

10 Comments

  1. Nice guy

    August 29, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    Now they can find one Buffoon to occupy the place. Nigerians might be back to darkness again. this is the same story with Dora and NAFADAC, Dedicated people from the east will slave to salvage a sector only to be ill treated. Why are we cursed to be yoked together with backward people.

    • Zaki thruth

      August 30, 2012 at 7:24 am

      Don’t you see how Naive you were? you have brought ethnicity into this issue again. Because your people alwayz think they are smarter than others that is why they alwayz have problems

  2. teejay

    August 29, 2012 at 3:57 pm

    ok. i blv u,sir. thanks for the unappreciated service to the nation and ur pocket

  3. abdullahi jamiu

    August 29, 2012 at 3:59 pm

    Thank you Prof., electricity is actually improving.

  4. Chukwuka Chijioke Jerri

    August 29, 2012 at 4:29 pm

    Good name is far better than riches…………He left while the ovation was high! Respect Sir!

  5. malik

    August 30, 2012 at 12:27 am

    NIGERIA WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A BIG DISGRACE TO AFRICA

  6. LESLIE NEWINGTON

    August 30, 2012 at 3:43 am

    TIME WILL TELL WHO IS REALLY TELLING THE TRUTH…..BUT FROM HIS STATEMENT,I CAN ALREADY TELL HE GAVE CONTRACTS OR AT LEAST ONE CONTRACT TO A COMPANY HE HAD OR HAS INTEREST IN…THIS IS WRONG…NO MATTER EVEN IF THE LEVEL OF POWER GENERATION HAS GONE UP….THIS IS WRONG…..NIGERIAN PUBLIC APPOINTMENT HOLDERS SHOULD STOP BENEFITTING DIRECTLY (BRIBE)FROM THE POSTION OF TRUST THEY ARE PLACED IN,SENTIMENTS ASIDE…..

  7. David Ihedioha

    August 30, 2012 at 5:23 am

    Prof. I applaud your good work.there is this old saying ‘seeing is believeing’ if you didt see it then you are development blind

  8. David Ihedioha

    August 30, 2012 at 5:45 am

    Alright prof.Barth you awarded contract allergedly to a company you have blind trust in, of your choice and interest but inasmuch as these trust delivered I will call you a hero and a God sent for showing us light at the end of the tunnel

  9. Zaki the truth.

    August 30, 2012 at 7:21 am

    Bullshit, and you call yourself a professor, some people have to point out the anomaly to you> who invited the company you had interest in to bid? was it not you? how can you claim ignorance of civil service rules? Better concoct a different story