'I didn't reject Buhari's appointment' -NERC chairman-designate, Akinwande says

President Buhari's nominee for chairman-designate of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Professor Akintunde Ibitayo Akinwande, has sent a letter to the Senate stating he has not rejected his nomination.

There were reports on Tuesday October 25th that he might have rejected his appointment after he failed to appear before the senate Committee on Power, Steel Development and Metallurgy for screening and confirmation.

In his letter addressed to the chairman of the senate committee on Power, Steel and Metallurgy, Akinande said he will honour the Senate's invitation for screening after clearing with his current employer, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), U. S, A. His statement in part reads

‘‘News reports in Nigeria that I have rejected President Buhari's nomination to be Chairman of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission have been brought to my attention. I have the greatest respect for President Buhari. I am fully behind the change he has brought and is bringing to the way Government business is conducted in Nigeria. I am deeply honoured that Mr. President and his team thought me worthy for this important national assignment and sought me out for it. I am a tenured professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. As such I am contractually constrained to seek formally the consent of the university for a leave of absence before presenting myself to the Senate for screening and if confirmed take on the assignment.’’