Dear Compatriot: I read with interest your recent articles on the Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, published on the internet (by Sahara Reporters) and in the Nigerian print media. You wrote under the titles: "Professor Bartholomew Nnaji: Has This Man Failed?" and "Still on Prof. Bartholomew Nnaji and the National Darkness." Incidentally, the latter was your response to a rejoinder to your original article by Ogbuagu Anikwe, a media aide to the Minister.
Dear Compatriot: I read with interest your recent articles on the Minister of Power, Prof. Bart Nnaji, published on the internet (by Sahara Reporters) and in the Nigerian print media. You wrote under the titles: "Professor Bartholomew Nnaji: Has This Man Failed?" and "Still on Prof. Bartholomew Nnaji and the National Darkness." Incidentally, the latter was your response to a rejoinder to your original article by Ogbuagu Anikwe, a media aide to the Minister.
I can sense from the tone of both articles that you are a feisty writer, and a very articulate mind for good measure. I nonetheless believe we can have a sober and reasoned dialogue over the issues you have raised, the salient ones in particular. I address this letter to you to inaugurate such dialogue in the interest of truth and fairness.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content1'); });
For instance, you allege that all Prof. Nnaji's aides are indigenes of his native Enugu State "whose appointment was solely based on primordial sentiments rather than their specific qualifications and competences." You call this a "weighty charge." I agree with you. But here are the facts: Stephen Ogaji, Thelma Osuhor and Obinna Ihedioha, all aides of Prof. Nnaji who have worked with him since his appointment as Minister of Power, are not from Enugu State. Mr. Ogaji and Ms. Osuhor are from Delta State. Mr. Ihedioha is from Imo State. These three bright, young individuals have qualifications earned from universities in our country and overseas, including University of Manchester, University of Warwick, and Harvard. And they are not the only aides of the Minister who hail from states different from his. Now, since you must be conversant with the basic rules of logic as they appertain to predicates and propositions, the above facts should suffice to disprove that "weighty charge" of yours and justify my declaring it as neither true nor fair.
Then, you complement the above charge with a comparison - unfavourable to Nnaji - with Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory. Here are your exact words: "When Mallam Nasiru El Rufai.was confronted with such challenge, he did not spare anything to get his task done, including engaging some Diaspora Nigerians . without minding which part of the country they come from. It is yet not known that Prof. Nnaji has engaged anybody purely on his competence, not even one Nigerian home and abroad ."
Again, the facts: Nnaji directly sourced the said Stephen Ogaji, and some of his other aides, from the Diaspora. Interestingly, Mr. Ogaji holds a Doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the prestigious Cranfield University in the United Kingdom. Before joining the Minister's team, he was Course Director and Lecturer at Cranfield University. He had also lectured in engineering at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology and worked as a Field Engineer in Schlumberger. Does this type of pedigree not contradict the lack of "specific qualifications and competences" you ascribe to all of Nnaji's aides? Applying the same basic rule of logic which I invoked earlier, this singular evidence should suffice to also prove that ascription as neither true nor fair. Shouldn't it?
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('content2'); });
However, it would not have called for censure even if Nnaji had chosen not to engage any of his aides from the Diaspora, since the important thing should be the competence of such aides. Residing outside one's country would not necessarily turn an incompetent into a model of efficiency.
Then, that you blame Nnaji for the recent drop in power generation, regardless of whether it is as a result of low water level at our hydro stations or unreliable gas supply to our thermal stations, is equally unfair, since he is not in control of these factors, one of which can be likened to force majeure. It is as unfair as insisting that a man be punished for a crime even in the face of evidence that exculpates him.
Furthermore, you accuse the Minister of having "gone out of his way and without decency to publish the names of disengaged workers in several pages of almost all Nigeria's national newspapers." There is some negative exaggeration to this charge because the publication in question was a list of redeployed staff, and the difference between "disengaged" and "redeployed" is huge. That said, let me add that, having worked as a journalist, I recognise that the choice of material to put up for publication is largely governed by discretion, and there are known ways for those who feel violated by the exercise of such discretion to seek redress. I would understand if this loud cry against that publication came from the "bereaved".
You also allege, concerning the Minister, that "after nearly 10 years of efforts," "his" "Geometrics Company" "at Ala Oji" (the company is located at Osisioma, near Aba, not "Ala Oji") "could not generate even a single kilowatt of electricity.." But I can't see how this can translate into an incontrovertible proof of Nnaji's ineffectiveness in managing the power business as you seem to intend, since Nnaji had earlier founded and operated successfully the 22-megawatt Abuja Emergency Power Plant commissioned in 2001, which for over two years supplied uninterrupted electricity to key institutions and places in Abuja, including the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), the International Conference Centre, the State House, and the Central Business District. The Geometric plant is work in progress and should generate electricity at the appropriate time. All over the world investors take bank loans to finance such capital intensive projects, and I can see no justification for your criticising those behind the plant for allegedly being indebted to banks, which is not a crime.
Those celebrating Nnaji's failure as Minister of Power are "plucking the unripe fruits of laughter," to quote Pindar, the legendary Greek poet of antiquity. For, to adapt that inimitable phrase by our own Chinua Achebe, it is morning yet on the creation day of the new Nigeria that the Power Sector Reform which Nnaji has been charged to implement is meant to inaugurate, a Nigeria primed to achieve its fullest potential because its citizens can take the availability of electricity for granted.
The problems Nnaji has been appointed to help solve in our power sector took several decades to create, during which some of his detractors tolerated disinvestment and decay in the sector. The only thing comparable to the situation in the history of our country is the near-total erosion of our democratic values occasioned by decades of military rule, leading to serious setbacks in our growth as a civilised nation. And while we still struggle to fully democratise our nation more than a decade after its "return to democracy" in 1999, I am surprised that you would deem it fair to declare Nnaji a failure for having not fully reversed the problems with our power sector in less than one year in office as Minister of Power.
El-Rufai has also had his share of criticism, and has even faced prosecution, in spite of the good deeds you have rightly ascribed to him. In effect, there seem to be "critics" ever willing to turn our country into a graveyard for good reputations, whether of the likes of Nnaji or El Rufai. Such "critics" are vectors of the virus of the Pull Him Down Syndrome and have obviously not spared Nnaji from their malignant designs and those of their sponsors. Beware, lest you become infected with this dangerous virus and the attendant sickness whose symptoms are rabid hate and censoriousness. A cure is still being sought for the virus which also foists on its carriers a debilitating disorder of the mind.
Yours sincerely,
Ikeogu Oke
Email: [email protected]
Tel: +234-(0)803-453-1501]
[1] Oke, a former staff member of the National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) which metamorphosed into the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), and a public policy analyst, wrote from Abuja.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('comments'); });