Barely 24 hours to the tenure end, the Presidency is yet to announce the nomination of new commissioners after the present team would have spent five years as the second set of commissioners at NERC.
The Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSR) 2005 does not allow for any vacancy in the management cadre of the NERC, the sole regulator in a growing private-led electricity sector. Section 35 says new appointments or re-appointments should be made before the expiration of the existing tenure.
But a key source in the commission confirmed that no known nomination has been made by the Presidency for NERC even as the board ends their tenure on Tuesday. “We don’t know now. government should have announced it by now whether they are renewing their tenure or otherwise, but they haven’t said anything.
“The appointments follow a process and should have been announced earlier. The President nominates and then the list goes to the Senate which then goes to its Committee on Power. The list is brought back for confirmation and back to the President. But the Senate is only sitting this week (Tuesday) to receive the 2016 budget, without the list, so we really don’t know,” the source said.
The outgoing commissioners include Engr. Mary Awolokun who retired from the defunct PHCN; Mr Eyo Ekpo, a lawyer resigned few months ago. He had worked at the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP) before joining NERC.
The Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi is a trained lawyer and a civil society advocate. Others are Muhammad Lawal Bello, Abba Ibrahim, Patrick Umeh, and Dr. Steven Andzenge.
For fresh commissioners now, the earliest time they might be screened by the Senate is mid January 2016. This gap, an official in the ministry (Power) said may require the most senior staff of the Commission to hold forth.
He said, “The Minister has not disclosed who would replace them. They can announce the most senior person there to takeover because there cannot be a vacancy in the place, somebody would have to hold forth.”
At NERC, an official said in confidence that the most senior official would be in the rank of a General Manager (GM) following the hierarchy down to Deputy General Managers (DGM) and Assistant General Manager (AGM).
In 2009 when the pioneer commissioners were removed over alleged corruption, an administrator was appointed and he led the commission for 22 months even when there was no provision for that in the Act.
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