Prof. Akintunde Akinwande, the Chairman-designate for the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission, has rejected his nomination by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The nominee, who was expected to appear before Senate Committee on Power for screening, was conspicuously absent from the scheduled screening.
The Senate Committee members, who were ready to screen the nominees for the NERC Board, immediately called it off upon discovering that Akinwande was absent.
It was gathered that Akinwande, who is a Nigerian-American Engineering Professor, rejected the appointment because he was not consulted before he was nominated.
The source noted that they learnt that Akinwande is doing a project at the United States of America-based Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The source said: “We also learnt that enough consultation was not made before the man was nominated.
“We were informed that the nominee may have turned down his nomination.”
A reliable source said Akinwande also refused to appear at the office of the Department of State Services for security checks.
Speaking with newsmen, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe said that there was no way the screening could go on in the absence of the Chairman-designate.
Abaribe added that the inauguration of the board of NERC is key to solving the problems of the sector.
He said: “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 also said that there was no way the committee could go on with the screening without the chairman-designate.
He noted that since the nomination was made over three months ago, the Presidency should have known whether the chairman-designate would attend the screening or not.
He said: “The commission is vital and cannot function without a chairman.”
Abaribe, who promised that the committee is ready to screen the nominees, added: “We cannot screen them until we have a formal communication from the Presidency.”
Other nominees for the board appointment included Sanusi Garuba (Vice Chairman), Nathan R. Shatti (Commissioner), Dr. Moses Arigu (Commissioner), Dafe C. Akpeneye (Commissioner), Prof. Frank Okafor (Commissioner) and Musiliu O. Oseni (Commissioner).
Efforts by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on National Assembly Matters, Ita Enang, to persuade the committee to screen other nominees who turned up for the screening hit the rocks.
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