A Coalition of the Transparency Advocacy for Development Initiative and other civil rights groups has condemned the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria -Energy Commission of Nigeria (ASCSN-ECN Unit) – for grounding activities at the commission.
Yomi David, the Coordinator of the coalition, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said its findings showed that allegations against Prof. Eli Bala, Director-General of ECN were baseless.
He said that the coalition had keenly followed the trajectory of activities of government particularly the quest to improve power generation and explore innovative vistas of renewable energy.
“Undoubtedly, ECN – with a core mandate to ensure adequate, reliable, cost-effective and sustainable energy supply for the nation – stands out in achieving this objective.
“From our shrewd and diligent observations, we can boldly say that the agency under the watch of Bala has kept faith with the mandate of the agency with palpable achievements that have contributed in no small measure to boosting Nigeria’s energy needs.
“We are therefore taken aback by the recurrent protests by ASCSN-ECN UNIT which has decided to arbitrarily hold the ECN to ransom by grounding activities of the agency using misrepresented information with the ultimate aim of scuttling the steady strides of success recorded by government in the agency.
“It is clear that the ASCSN-ECN UNIT has pitched itself against President Muhammadu Buhari by rudely questioning his well advised decision to reappoint Bala for another term as Director General of Energy Commission of Nigeria,’’ he said.
David said that despite the allegations of corruption leveled against Bala, the union had not in any way brought forth documents to substantiate their claims.
He said that ASCSN had demonstrated a lack of understanding of management of international grants by their wild allegations that a whopping sum of 975 million dollars African Development Bank funds was misappropriated at variance with the fact that the AfDB had a foolproof monitoring mechanism to ensure financial transparency.
He said that leaders of ASCSN had laid allegations of mismanagement and maladministration against Bala only for its own demands at the detriment of the collective welfare of the Staff which had been well addressed.
David called on ASCSN to refrain from further attempts at blackmailing and arm-twisting the government and should direct its members to return to duty forthwith.
Recall that ASCSN-ECN Unit recently vowed to petition anti-graft agencies over alleged mismanagement of 975 million dollars Lake Chad Basin project by Bala.
Mr Promise Chukwu, Chairman, ASCSN-ECN Unit, said that that there was need to unravel the alleged corrupt practice and other irregularities under Bala’s watch.
“It is imperative to specifically draw the attention of President Buhari and the public on the need to direct anti-corruption agencies to unravel the grand corruption and mismanagement of international donor funded projects shrouded in secrecy.
“It is important to particularly unravel the mystery surrounding how African Development Bank Fund of about 975 million United States dollars Lake Chad Basin project was expended.
“Similarly, millions of naira had been budgeted and squandered under the National Energy Data Bank project, with nothing to show for it,’’ Chukwu said.
ECN staff union under the aegis of had on June 19 embarked on an indefinite strike to protest the reappointment of Eli for a second tenure.
The union appealed to Buhari to reverse Eli’s reappointment and investigate him over alleged maladministration as well as flagrant indifference to public service regulations.
