There are indications that the Federal Government may lose $23.72m (about N3.69bn) to Manitoba Hydro for failing to allow the Canadian firm manage the Transmission Company of Nigeria, which it had been contracted for.
The money represents the fee payable to the company for the management of TCN, one of the 18 successor companies of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
Seven months after the Bureau of Public Enterprises signed the management contract with Manitoba, the Canadian firm has yet to receive the Delegated Authority it requires to take over the management of the company.
It was learnt that should it cancel the contract as some top Nigerian officials of TCN had been pressing for, the Federal Government might lose more than the $23.72m as stipulated in the clauses in the contract, while Nigeria’s relationship with the Canadian government could also be damaged.
Investigations showed that despite the intervention of President Goodluck Jonathan when the BPE raised questions on the propriety of the contract, the Canadian managers sent by Manitoba were still looking from the sidelines.
The Chief Executive Officer designate of TCN sent from Manitoba, Mr. Don Priestman, confirmed this in a telephone interview with our correspondent.
He said, “There was a management in place before our arrival. The structure is still in place and decides what happens here.
“We signed the contract a long time ago. After a transition period of one month, we were supposed to receive the Delegated Authority. That has not yet happened. Without the Delegated Authority, we cannot take over. The contract was questioned at a point but the President finally said that it was in order.”
Our correspondent learnt that the intervention of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, urging the Federal Government to ratify the contract, in the interest of the electricity industry reform, had not produced any positive result.
The Chairman, NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, confirmed in a telephone interview that the regulatory authority had written to the government to resolve the contract imbroglio.
“We have pointed out to the government what should be done. We said the contract should be concluded and that the government should give them the authority to perform. The earlier it is done the better,” Amadi said.
Apart from the Delegated Authority, it was also learnt that Manitoba was also waiting for part of its payment that had fallen due, according to the payment schedule.
Our correspondent learnt that one of the frustrations that the Canadian firm has had to deal with was the large bureaucracy of the nation’s authorities.
Without a clear definition of reporting authority, the Canadian firm is often left in the doldrums as there are many parties involved in the management deal.
These include the National Council on Privatisation chaired by Vice President Namadi Sambo, BPE, Bureau of Public Procurement, Ministry of Power, Presidential Task Force on Power, NERC and the remnants of PHCN.
Apart from NERC, attempts to speak with other government agencies involved in the deal proved abortive as they failed to respond to inquiries.
While the 17 other PHCN successor companies were slated for either privatisation or concession under the ongoing power sector reform programme, the Federal Government has retained 100 per cent ownership in TCN.
However, in order to ensure effective management as well as expansion of the national grid, TCN was slated for management contract for an initial period of three years.
The management contractor was expected not only to expand the grid within the period of the contact, but also to ensure that Nigerian workers were effectively trained to fill the skill gap that had been identified.
However, PHCN employees had consistently opposed the planned take-over of the human resource and market operator functions of TCN by the Canadian firm because it would allegedly render them redundant.
They feared that the Canadian firm could also cut down the staff strength of the organisation as well as clip the wings of the workers in determining who would get what.
Given the opposition of the workers to Manitoba, the Federal Government under the former Minister of Power, Prof. Bath Nnaji, used security forces made up of policemen and soldiers to ensure that Manitoba resumed at the company’s headquarters in Abuja on July 30, 2012.
Upon resumption, Priestman had pledged to work closely with the legacy TCN employees.