Former Minister of National Planning Commission in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, Dr. Shamsuddeen Usman, on Thursday revealed how politicians and officials in the administration jostled for shares in the power generation and distribution companies that were privatised in 2013 .

The Minister in the administration of Jonathan spoke in Abuja at the 26th October Lecture of the Nigerian Society of Engineers.

Usman said government officials who ordinarily should have been neutral in the privatisation exercise were, however, guilty of foul plays and used their positions to leverage their interests in the exercise secretly.

The former minister said at the NSE lecture, which was delivered by its former president, Mustafa Shehu, that most of the transaction principles often included and followed in the privatisation of government’s assets were sidestepped during the sale of the power assets to private investors.