MIT Professor rejects Buhari’s Appointment as NERC Chairman

A Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, Prof Akintunde Akinwande may have rejected his nomination as the chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) for reportedly not being consulted before being named as NERC chairman.

His absence stalled proceedings at the senate session on Tuesday where 7 persons nominated to the board of the NERC were scheduled to be screened, reports The Nation.

A list of nominees circulated by the Senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy, records of date of birth, qualification, specialisation, experience and certificate of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) were missing in Akinwande’s column.

The media house cited a source within the Senate  who  hinted that Akinwande was currently working on a project at MIT where he works as a professor of electrical engineering and computer science.

“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,” the source said.

The source added that Akinwande also failed to present himself to the Department of State Services (DSS) for security checks.

Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, Chairman of the Committee told newsmen that it was impossible to proceed with the senate screening in the absence of the person nominated as NERC chairman.

“Regrettably, when members of the committee assembled to screen the nominees made by President Muhammadu 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 said.

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).

Professor Akinwande would not be the first person to complain about lack of consultation by the Buhari administration before an appointment as recently former deputy Governor of Plateau State cited same reason when rejecting her ambassadorial nomination.