The chairman of the Technical Committee on Privatisation Atedo Peterside has fingered the director general of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) for frustrating attempts by his committee to evaluate the controversial sale of the Enugu Distribution Company.
| Peterside Atedo |
Interstate Electrics, the winner of the bid for the company, failed to make the mandatory payment of $90 million at the close of the deadline on August 23, but the BPE has so far failed to invite the reserve bidder to take over the slot and in the process incurred the anger of stakeholders in the region.
Peterside, who has been under pressure from the 23-member strong technical committee to call an urgent meeting, says in an email memo to members of the committee yesterday that, “the reason we are unable to meet is because the DG 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 twenty four hours within which to revert to me.”
According to Peterside, “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 or mission of the committee.”
He said, “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.”
Following the passing of the deadline and the failure of Interstate to pay up, governors of the South Eastern states began putting pressure on the presidency to intervene by calling the reserve bidder to purchase the power asset, but so far, the BPE appears bent on following a determined course which has now called to question the integrity of the power privatisation programme.
On Wednesday, one of the South East governors told BusinessDay that, “the failure of the BPE to conclude the sale by promptly calling the reserve bidder to buy the asset shows that the BPE has a hidden agenda that seeks to consign the whole of the South East of Nigeria to prolong darkness at a time other regions are making progress.
“Our worry is not so much whether the winner who has failed the deadline will pay up eventually. We are concerned about the integrity of the process and also we worry about the ability of the winner to make the required investment in the distribution company so that it can actually deliver the hope and expectation of the people of the region, especially given that the winner has so far struggled to put up the cash for the purchase of the asset.”
Apart from the South East governors, other notable Nigerians have also expressed worry over the stance of the BPE.
“The BPE appears to be mismanaging the fallout of Interstate Electrics’ default in payment for Enugu and eroding the credibility of an otherwise sound exercise,” columnist Opeyemi Agbaje, had said in his piece ‘A new power sector’ published in BusinessDay, September 4, 2013.
Muheez Olayinka Bello, a power sector lawyer, said: “It would defeat investors’ confidence in the power sector. It calls to question the integrity of the privatisation process. It has got many worried about the transparency of the entire process.
“The BPE would have to be called upon to follow the bidding process. The international community is watching. All over the world, when a preferred bidder fails, the reserved bidder naturally comes on board.”
BusinessDay learnt that after making a payment of $13 million, the winner has paid another $1 million of the required $90 million meant to have been paid.
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