Nebo: Power of silent achievement on july 03, 2015 at 6:34 pm in business, news Facebook Share Twitter Share By Adekunle Adekoya It has been adjudged as the biggest privatisation in the whole wide world. Economic history books will tell you that you can only have anything close to that if you begin to look at what happened in Russia. So, the person we are celebrating today, has done for Nigeria what Napoleon could not do for France and that is why we said we must honour him, we must give honour to whom honour is due, we must celebrate him, when he is alive. “Anybody that did what Prof. Chinedu Ositadinma Nebo did in the Power sector, I can bet you, will see God. We are here today to just say thank you for what you have done for Nigeria, because if Nigeria begins to develop today, if we begin to move to the next level, in terms of industrialization, in terms of growth, in terms of economic development, somebody must look back and say, where did it all start? It started from the power reforms. It started from the revolution in the power sector, because without that you cannot go anywhere.” Prof Chinedu Nebo Prof Chinedu Nebo These were the words which resonated that night of June 12, 2015, at the Nike Resort Hotels, Enugu. It was one of the rarest events attached to the rich profile of Professor Ositadinma Nebo, former Minister of Power, former Vice Chancellor of University of Nigeria Nsukka, pioneer Vice Chancellor, Federal University, Oye Ekiti, engineer, scholar, teacher, philosopher and preacher. It was supposed to be a very small event. He had wished it so and directed so — nothing noisy, no klieg lights, no fanfare. Just simple. But even as all these requirements were met, it all ended up an amazing event that gave expression to the saying that the best, most beautiful and most important things, most times, come in small packages. And so, for the first time since serving the nation’s most critical sector – power – Nebo, stood out to receive the symbol of appreciation on behalf of Nigerians who really understand not only the significance of privatizing the nation’s power sector, but the enormity of work and the dynamics that trailed it. Indeed, few of the guests, from the look of things are likely not to forget the event in a hurry. Not only because of the superlative performance put up by the Enugu State Cultural Troupe, but the essence of the entire outing in terms of putting the Nigerian economic and social question in proper perspective. Mr. Ray Echebiri, Director of Business World, the group that packaged the event, tried to capture the whole essence in a rather witty but instructive analogy. “Here we are, celebrating somebody who successfully sold one of the biggest government-owned companies in this country. We’re talking of the assets of the former PHCN, the GENCOs and the DISCOs, a behemoth; PHCN was big, very big, how then do we describe such a person? Of course, whatever PHCN was doing, touched the lives of all of us here. If there is no power here, this place will be dark and nobody will see the next person. What about manufacturing? What about those small things outside, if there is no power and this government-owned enterprise held this country to unnegotiable ransom for years and somebody said enough is enough, government can no longer pilot these companies successfully and so it must be sold, and successfully sold these companies to private operators, should we take it as if nothing has happened? But he didn’t stop there, he was also able to hand over all of them to the private operators that bought them. “Now, in the course of looking at what they were doing, Prof. Nebo also discovered that they were having some challenges with the liabilities that they inherited and the serious issues with gas shortages. That was another hurdle. How do we cross it? And then, he successfully, with the collaboration of the Central Bank of Nigeria and Ministry of Petroleum resources, raised N203 billion as a lifeline to these companies. And of course all these I am telling you, everything was done transparently and credibly.” Having dropped his raison d’etre, to underscore the event, Echebiri, practically opened a floodgate, as praises poured out in torrents. To Professor Viola Onwuliri, who served with Nebo at the same time at the Federal Executive Council (FEC), the award could not have been more significant at the time it came, given the message it sought to convey. Recalling what she called Nebo’s enormous contribution and intellectual bent to issues at the highest decision making body at the nation’s seat of power, she said it was instructive that it did not go without recognition. “I thank BusinessWorld for recognizing that we have a gold fish here, a star that the good Lord has bestowed to us in this part of the world and one that has served diligently and passionately in various assignments in this country for the benefit of all us. And each time he came out tops. He’s never disappointed us and we are continuously happy for him. “On behalf of the immediate past Federal Executive Council, I wish to congratulate my brother. He has continued to do us proud and he has also continued to be special to all of us in the Federal Executive Council. “He’s somebody that should be continuously applauded and honoured, because he put his life into this work and also, being a man of God, a lot of prayers. I’m sure without prayers, even where we are today, especially in the power sector, we will not be, because it will seem that a lot of anti-Christ going in that sector – with all the stealing, with all the destruction, with people who were determined to take us back, perhaps because they are benefitting from the old system. But he came up with knowledge, with commitment and with prayers and we were able to make progress. I want to pray that for his sake, the power sector will continue to make progress.” Echoing similar sentiments, Prof. Ernest Onwuasigwe of University of Nigeria, Enugu Campus (UNEC), said Nigeria actually travelled the right direction by fishing out Nebo to become the Minister of Power. “I recall how some individuals were making publications in the newspapers about how they were going to pull down Nigeria if the privatization continued. And knowing that Prof Nebo is not a politician, they underestimated him,” he said, adding it was a good thing that the sector had continued to gather momentum. Accolades also came from a foremost Hon. Oguejiofor Agbo, Chairman, Enugu South Local Government Area, who recalled Nebo’s series of successes in difficult terrains, such as banishing cultism at the University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN), building a brand new functional university in six months, as the pioneer Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Oye-Ekiti and prevailing over the odds to complete the privatization process in the power sector. Hear him: “There came a time when every year we count how many people they kill in the University of Nigeria, during exam time because every secret cult member come to take their exam. So, the enemies will come and search for them and assassinate them. And UNN called on Prof. Nebo and when his face turned towards UNN, there were no more cult killings. “At Oye Ekiti, there were two intellectual groups fighting each other and they could not agree about anything about that university, especially about its location. But when the V-C was appointed, it was said that now there was one common ground all the groups agreed on and that was in the choice of the V-C. And when the V-C went there and turned his face towards Ekiti, something started to happen.” Promoter of the South East Nigeria Economic Commission (SENEC), Chris Okoye, who was also present, said a more appropriate forum would be created in future to fully capture and appreciate Nebo’s contribution to the power sector and building of the Nigerian economy. The engineer, banker, businessman and construction giant, added: “I know that Prof. Nebo is a man we will find time in the future to talk about properly. One thing that is unique about Prof. Nebo is the fact that he has stood for the pursuit of the common good. In a society in which selfishness, self-centredness and the desire to become the first, here is a man, who in everything he does, he thinks only about the pursuit of common good. And I believe that it is that quality that kept him strongly protected in that unique ministry called Ministry of Power. “When you talk about the Nigerian content, I believe that it is during his term of office that one can really say that the Nigerian content development has really started in the Ministry of Power. If you look at NAPTINS, what else can you be talking about apart from growing competencies, capabilities and capacities? If you look at what is happening there, I’m sure that in the next couple of years, the Ministry of Power through NAPTINS (National Power Training Institute of Nigeria), would have created the platform for sustaining the needs of the power sector in Nigeria and that is what is called local content.” An appreciative Nebo, was also not left out, as he used the occasion to review his past and put the future in perspective. He particularly mentioned two major factors in his life fundamental to his streak of successes – God and a prayerful and supportive wife, Ifeyinwa. His words: “I feel humbled and especially privileged that Business World that has gone places, that I have respect very much, found me worthy to receive this award. I want to say, thank you very much. There is nothing I do that I don’t ask for help beyond me. I want to say that no success has happened in my life without God himself. I give Him all the glory. “I am very happy that I have become a private citizen. I have allies that I can work with to promote the knowledge that I have garnered in the past few years with regards to the Power Sector.” Admonishing that it would be a big setback to ignore the gains already made in the power sector by the new administration, the former minister said former President, Goodluck Jonathan, contrary to the views held in certain quarters actually achieved a lot in the industry. “One thing, and that is my greatest regret, is that we didn’t win the war against vandalism and against inadequate gas supply. I tell you, if President Buhari were to win the gas war today, within two weeks, every Nigerian will be celebrating him, because what President Jonathan has put in place for the power sector is so immense that within a few weeks, if you get all these turbines fired up, instead of operating on 30 or 40 per cent capacity, every Nigerian will know the difference. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the privilege of winning the gas war. And I do think that to win the gas war, Mr. President, will have to do whatever it takes to stem the tide of vandalism of gas and oil pipelines as well as induce producers of gas to produce gas. “And I will say that even if Mr. President, Mohammadu Buhari will declare a gas emergency, Nigerians will see the difference within a week or two. So, a lot has already happened and we hope that the new administration will continue to make sure that Nigerians reap the benefit of privatization.” My greatest gratitude goes to Almighty God, who through His son, Jesus Christ, singled me out to make somebody out of one who would have been nobody. I thank God for that, because in the eyes of medical doctors, I would have been a vegetable because of the accident I had when I was I was 10 years old. Doctors said that if I survived and am not mentally incapacitated for life, that I should be regarded as a living miracle. And so, I thank God for that.” Then the climax: “But I also thank God for the greatest gift he gave me this side of heaven, a young, beautiful woman, Ifenyinwa Nebo. I have been married to this girl for 37 years and by next month, July 23rd, it will be 38 years of marriage. The only thing is that people look at her and they say, Prof., how come you are marrying this little girl. She doesn’t age. She remains the same person that I took to the altar so many years ago. But above all, she prays. She’s close to the Lord. She is a voice of conscience and she cares. And when you have a peaceful home, children that love you and love the Lord, a family that is united in Christ and in fellowship, it is almost impossible not to give your best. So, I thank my wife. Unfortunately, she is not here. She is doing what Ndigbo call omugwo. Our eighth grandchild arrived last week. So, that’s why she is there.” The former Minister, while urging Nigerians not to be despondent over the power situation in the country, said one of the workable solutions to get out of the woods lay in pursuing embedded power generation. Hear him: “I want to assure all of you that Nigeria will win the power war. There is no doubt in my mind. We’ve been pushing for embedded power generation. That’s the way to go. Most of these big power plants take years of gestation to realization. Embedded generation can give you, 1,000, 2,000 megawatts whereas the big plants will not give you that in five to six years. We’re pushing for that and we hope that the present administration will continue, And the only way to do embedded generation is through privatization. It can work because all the agricultural clusters, industrial clusters, manufacturing clusters, export trade zones, all of them can be covered by embedded generation, so that Nigeria will leapfrog into industrialization instead of depending on just the traditional way. There is a Chinese description of insanity that says that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result each time. We cannot continue doing the things we have been doing. We must think outside the box.” Expressing gratitude to those who had constantly stood with him through difficult times, he also used the opportunity to apologize to those he must have wronged along the way, saying: “Sometimes, my friends don’t understand me. I have a problem and that problem is that if you give me an assignment, I bury myself in it. I give it my all. And so, in the process – people know I have never been a socialite, apart from the fact that people know me as a preacher, an evangelist and so on – I’m just a private person. And my wife tells me constantly that she knows that if I hadn’t married her, I would only marry books; because I would be away from the public, reading, meditating and preaching, engineering notwithstanding. So, I thank those of you that understand that this man is a man of passion for anything give me. “Mr. President emeritus, Goodluck Jonathan asked me a few weeks ago, Prof., are you going to return to the university? I said no, Your Excellency. I have been teaching engineering in the university for a good part of my life, and I think going back to now teach, students of the I-Generation — people who now use iPad, iPhone, I-everything and with engineering so dynamic, I have to go for a refresher course. Otherwise, I will end up being taught by the students I’m claiming to teach. So, I would rather do other more practical things that I believe I can do. In the end, Prof. Eze Mazulike, who gave the vote of thanks, seemed to have put the entire life and times of the former Minister when he said: “God picked him from his mother’s womb and continued to guide his step in the direction that will please Him.” It is a statement that has a historical and spiritual antecedent. At the age of 10, Nebo was taken for dead when he fell from the roof of his classroom. He had gone in search of a ball pen given to him by his father for coming first in class. His then teacher had flung the pen away and as a child, he had thought the prized property was thrown into the ceiling and had gone for it at the end of class. On hearing the news of his son’s “death,” the father had thrown his hands in the air and asked that if he lived, he would hand him over to God to serve him forever. Today, with prayer answered, Nebo, has not only served God, but humanity.