Federal Government clarifies why Prof. Barth Nnaji resign as Minister of Power

The federal government has said that the resignation of the former Minster of Power, Barth Nnaji, was to give credibility to the privatisation process ongoing in the sector.

Speaking to journalists at the State House, on Wednesday, after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting, the Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, said Nnaji's decision to quit would boost investors' confidence that government is committed to a transparent privatisation of the power sector.

He also described Nnaji's resignation as regrettable as President Jonathan would have loved to see him conclude the privatisation process; but added that the resignation would give further credibility to the exercise.


Maku said that Jonathan remained determined to give the nation a more stable power supply using the power sector road map and institutions of government which are in place irrespective of the exit of any government official.

"Let me put it this way, the reasons why Prof Barth Nnaji resigned are already known to you," he said. "Let me put it clearly that Prof Nnaji resigned to give credibility to the power sector privatisation process. And as to the efforts to stabilise power in the country, whether this resignation is going to affect it? Well, yes we definitely would have loved that Prof Barth, who had put in a lot of energy in this process, was there to complete the process or see it to greater fruition; but as you know governance or government is a continuum and you know there are institutions in place and there are processes in place.

I do not see the present gains that we're beginning to see in the power sector being obstructed in any way by the decision of Prof Nnaji to resign his position. I see rather greater momentum coming on board and I believe that the FG and the Ministry of Power particularly will work even harder in the months and the years to come to give this country very stable power supply."