Contrary to reports in the media, Akintunde Akinwande, a U.S.-based Nigerian engineering professor, who was recently nominated by President Muhammadu Buhari to Chair the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), on Thursday said reports that he had rejected the offer were nothing but “mere fiction.”
The university don and other nominated NERC Board members were scheduled to appear before the Senate Committee on Power for screening earlier this week, but he failed and his absence stalled the proceeding. This forced Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, chairman of the senate committee to postpone the exercise indefinitely, as according to him, the board cannot function without a chairman.
The Nigerian media had construed Akinwande’s absence as a rejection of his nomination. However, the professor of electrical engineering and computer science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, today tolda PREMIUM TIMES that he only had scheduling difficulties.
“I did not reject the nomination of the president,” Mr. Akinwande said. “I had scheduling difficulties which I had informed the concerned parties about.”
“It is shocking to see all the reports flying around the Nigerian media and I will tell you they’re all fiction,” Mr. Akinwande said. “Only fiction.”
It is understood that Senator Abaribe would schedule a new date for the screening after getting instructions from the Buhari administration’s National Assembly liaison office.
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