By Ifeyinwa Obi

A group, Initiative for  Leadership and Economic Watch in Nigeria, has urged  the Senate to stop the takeover of Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, management by African Development Bank, AfDB

The group in a position paper submitted to the Senate Committee on Power, signed by the Executive Director, Amb Splendour Agbonkpolor, also implored the lawmakers to prevail on the federal government to renegotiate and review the terms and conditions for AfDB loan, under which guise the bank is seeking to take over control of the company.

He said the Senate should ensure that every plan to “foist an AfDB management team on the TCN is resisted in totality.”

Agbonkpolor, who said the relevant constitutional procedures for appointing a management team for the TCN should be strictly adhered to, said: “In the case of TCN, Nigeria should not be boxed into allowing the AfDB dictate how the affairs of this very critical company will be run.

“It is our belief that the AfDB/federal government loan terms have no precedence in international financial practice and even if such exists, it will be a denigration of our position in the AfDB as a major stakeholder to agree to such terms.

“Placing the TCN as collateral for the AfDB loan and at the same time placing this collateral under the management of the AfDB is not in the best overall interest of Nigeria. ”

‘’In an event that the AfDB instituted management fails, what will be the fate of the Nigerian government on this critical company?”

He said the group’s finding revealed that the management team set up by the AfDB to run the affairs of the company could at best be described as square pegs in round holes as they were not specifically trained for management of power sector projects, particularly of such critical magnitude.

“Nigeria cannot afford to gamble on this one and thus should renegotiate more plausible and achievable terms for the procurement of this particular AfDB loan.