The
Chairman-designate of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission,
Professor Akintunde Akinwande has rejected his appointment by President
Muhammadu Buhari to head the agency.
Chairman-designate NERC, Profe. Akintunde Akinwande
We reported on Tuesday
that Usman Bugaje from Kastina state, became a second non-career
ambassadorial nominees after Pauline Tallen, a former deputy governor of
Plateau state, rejected his nomination by President Muhamamdu Buhari,
in a list sent to the Senate for confirmation last week.
According to a new report by ThisDay,
the Chairman-designate of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory
Commission (NERC), Professor Akintunde Akinwande, has also rejected his
appointment by President Muhammadu Buhari to head the agency.
The rejection marked the third time an appointee by President Buhari would reject his or her nominations in recent days.
Indications that Akinwande had rejected his appointment arose when
he shunned his invitation to appear before the Senate Committee on Power
for screening on Tuesday and consequently stalling the screening of
other nominees.
It was gathered that Akinwande rejected the nomination because he
was not consulted before the nomination was made. To underscore his lack
of interest in the appointment, he had hitherto failed to appear before
the Department of State Services (DSS) for security screening.
Reports further revealed that among the nominees whose credentials
were sent to the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and
Metallurgy, Akinwande’s credentials was conspicuously missing.
It was further learnt that the professor was not resident in
Nigeria but based in the United States where he’s pursuing a project at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US.
“We also learnt that adequate consultation was not made before
the man was nominated. We were therefore informed that the nominee may
have turned down his nomination,” a source added.
The Chairman of the Senate committee, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe,
said it was impossible to screen other nominees in the absence of the
chairman-designate.
The lawmaker from Abia state disclosed that privatisation of
electricity sector was meant to improve the power sector, adding that
the inauguration of NERC board was key to solving the power sector
problems.
“Regrettably, when members of the committee assembled to screen
the nominees made by President Buhari, we were told that the
chairman-designate was unavoidably absent. The presidential liaison who
brought the nominees informed us that the chairman was unavoidably
absent,” Abaribe added.
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