INDICATIONS that the committee would come up with a report of this nature emerged during the public hearing it conducted.In his testimony before the panel, the Group Chief Operating Officer of BUA International Ltd., Chimaobi Maduekwe, said BUA emerged as the preferred bidder with the sum of $20m. He revealed that after the bidding, BUA was asked to increase the amount to $25m and the company agreed to do so and went to a meeting with the BPE to make the payment.But along the line, the company was asked to wait and in the process of waiting, it heard that the DSC had been given to Global Holding Infrastructure Ltd.'Global did not participatein the bidding process. The process is still incomplete and the Senate should ensure the completion of the exercise by handing DSC to BUA,' Maduekwe said.He also told the committee that Global came into the process after former President Olusegun Obasanjo interfered by asking the Ministry of Power to take over the privatisation process from the BPE.Former Director-General of the BPE, Dr. Julius Bala, under whose tenure the transaction took place, corroborated the above account. He said that after the Bureau had endorsed BUA as the successful bidder, the presidency intervened, asking the Ministry ofPower to take over the process.He disclosed that he did not sign some of the letters purportedly signed by him in the process. 'I never signed this letter,' he said. 'I saw it but I never signed this letter and I would like to say that with computer technology, everything is possible. I never signed this letter,' he added.Bala said he left the BPE not long after this transaction but the key issue is that there was a bid opening ceremony and BUA emerged as the winner of the bid.'There was a difference between the winner of the bid and the preferred winner because after the bid, there was need for approval by the National Council on Privatization,' he said.'After the bid was completed, we submitted the documents on the winner of the bid through the chairman of the National Council on Privatization and one important issue that used to take place at that time, and which everybody was familiar with, was that there was a working relationship between the then chairman of the National Council on Privatization and the then president.'Usually, on very important issues, the chairman will submit the documents that require approval to the then president. And when the then chairman submitted the documents to the then president, he commented that the enterprise should not be sold for anything below $25 million.'The winner of the bid had submitted a bid of around $20 million but the president said it should not be sold for anything below $25 million.'Consequently, Bala said that the president and the chairman, who was the vice president, set a committee made up of the then Minister for Power and Steel, Minister of Transport as well as the Minister of Justice, to look into the privatization of the enterprises in the steel sector because, as it was said yesterday by Senator Brume, some people advised strongly that Delta Steel should not be sold alone.'It was suggested that Ajaokuta and Itakpe and Delta Steel were to be sold as an integrated whole,' he said. 'And there was also the issue of dredging and railway line and as such, a committee was set up and I was a member of the committee and respectively, the Minister of Power and Steel took responsibility for the process of negotiation for the sale of Delta Steel.'Bala said he was barely involved with the work of that committee but the determination for the final sale of Delta Steel, 'was taken by the ministry and all that was said yesterday, including Ajaokuta and Itakpe, the Ministry for Power and Steel took the major role towards the sale of the enterprises.'On the influence brought to bear on him on the matter, Bala said: 'I may have signed but what I want to emphasise to you is the fact that led ultimately to the agreement and as the DG of the BPE and the political situation at that time and the fact that I was made to know I am on the way out of the BPE, I had no real option than to sign as the head at that time.'All the Directors-General sign any agreement as such but there has to be approval of the chairman of the NCP, who is the head of the privatization programme. So, there was an approval given to me to sign.'I was giving you an understanding of the circumstances that existed at that time. There was an approval; I was not blackmailed at all. This is what I believe in completely. Also, that there are certain set ways we must undertake things in this country if we have to develop and grow.'You know also, Mr. Chairman, that this is the big challenge that all of us in this country have been struggling with for quite sometime.'And one of the major objectives I had, if you can read the address I made when I was taking over the leadership of BPE, is that we must undertake privatization in a very thorough way, as defined by the law.'I believe you also are battling with the issue of how to do things in a most proper way, as defined by the law and you have the reality of what we are battling with in this country on the other hand.'When the panel asked the Director-General of the BPE, Bolanle Onagoruwa, if the process was right, she faulted it, saying; 'that is certainly at variance with the process.'Thus, the panel faulted the process leading to the award of DSC to Global, saying that the presidenthad no right to interfere in the award process.'The law does not empower the president to give the final approval,' the panel said. 'If the National Council on Privatisation (NCP) is denied the power to do its work and there is presidential approval, then it is null and void.'The panel, acting on the protest by BUA that fairness was not followed in the sale of DSC to Global Infrastructure Holding Ltd., noted that it was unfortunate that a company that did not participate in the bidding process was awarded the DSC.Citing sharp practices in the saleof Delta Steel Company, sold to Global Infrastructure Nigeria Ltd., the panel ordered that it should be returned to BUA International.'Global Infrastructure is an illegal occupant of DSC. We have established that Global Infrastructure did no take part in the exercise conducted by BPE and the company should be given to BUA,' the panel said.On a good note however, Ms. Onagoruwa informed the committee that Indorama, the core investors at Eleme Petrochemicals Company Limited in Port Harcourt had, since the company was privatized in 2006, paid N12 billion dividend for the 15 percent shares, which BPE holds in the company on behalf of the Federal government.The panel asked what happened to the money and where it was paid into and commended the company, describing it as, 'the only company that has given us cause for joy so far.'Onagoruwa's presentation was followed by the presentation of the Managing Director of Eleme Petrochemicals, Mr. Manish Mundra, who informed the committee that the company was moribund when it was privatized in 2006 due to lack of Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) for more than 10 years.'''Immediately we took over in August 2006, the first thing we did was to carry out thorough turnaround maintenance (TAM) and we invested more than $130 million dollars to achieve this. After that, we started production and have not looked back since then,' he said.Mundra also informed the committee that despite a militant attack in which 12 of the company's expatriates were kidnapped in 2007, EPCL has continued to have confidence in its investment in Nigeria and is expanding into production of fertilizer and methanol at the cost of $1.8 billion.While disclosing that the company generates its own electricity and does not depend on the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), he stated that the host communities of Eleme and Elelenwo have remained a pillar of support for the company, which has continued to carry out various community development and social corporate responsibility projects in the communities.Mundra stated the company has given 10 percent of its shareholding to the Rivers State government while the host communities and the employees now have 7.5 percent and 2.5 percent respectively, and the BPEstill holds 5 percent on behalf of the Federal Government.Ms. Onagoruwa told the panel that the BPE was in the process of selling the 5 percent shares in the company valued at about N4.3bn but that the process was still inchoate. This attracted comments from the panel members, who warned the Bureau not do so.'The issue is a serious matter. The company should have its money back. The company is doing well and we don't have to sell the shares,' the committee said.
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