The newly inaugurated Managing Director of the Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), Engr. Abdul Mohammed Bello has promised to work towards enhancing the nation’s electricity grid reliability and quality supply to Nigerians.
Engr. Bello made this commitment while briefing journalists during the induction of the newly inaugurated board and management of the NISO on Tuesday in Abuja.
TheFact Daily reports that the Board was inaugurated by the Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima earlier today and has assumed the role as described by the Electricity Act 2023, as amended.
Speaking, Bello said the central mandate of the board in the power industry was to ensure the needed changes in the system that would enhance availability, reliability, and quality of supply of electricity to Nigerians.
In addition to that, he said the board was supposed to create an atmosphere, an environment of transparency, discipline, and orderliness in electricity business in Nigeria, “meaning that participants in generation, transmission, distribution, and eligible customers behave in a passionate manner in line with the provisions of the market rules and the grid code,” he explained.
The New NISO boss assured that the coming on board of the NISO Board and Management would usher the qualities that are required to make the power sector tick, just like other power sectors in bigger jurisdictions.
He stated that the board understands the challenges in the industry, and would tackle them pragmatically and systematically.
“We’re going to deal with these problems, like I said, it’s a journey, we’re starting from somewhere, and gradually, definitely with speed and quality, we shall be there to make sure that Nigerians enjoy a steady, reliable electricity supply in the nearest period,” he added.
He promised to hit the ground running by working closely with all the stakeholders in the industry, to align with the Board’s vision, mission, objectives, and goals as enshrined in the Electricity Act 2023.
“We’re going to have interfaces with generation companies, Transmission Service Provider (TSP), the distribution companies, and eligible customers. Those interfaces must be coordinated well, managed well, to make sure that the generation of electricity, transmission of electricity, distribution, and utilization of electricity is in line with the rules and in favour of the numerous Nigerian customers,” he assured.
Engr. Bello thanked President Bola Tinubu, for the trust he has on the Board’s ability to change the course of the electricity industry, the Vice President and the Chairman of the National Council on Privatization, NCP, for going through the rigors of the recruitment exercise.
“They championed this exercise to the point that over a hundred candidates applied for the post of MD of NISO and through scrutiny, transparency, ruggedness, firmness, focus, were able to reach this level today, and thank God I have been selected the MD of NISO and inaugurated today. It’s an upheaval task,” he said.
It would be recalled that the approval for the constitution of the Board was granted by President Bola Tinubu, about three weeks ago, with the appointment of executive and non-executive board members for the newly established NISO.
Tinubu announced the appointment of Dr. Adesegun Olugbade as the board chairman, while Engr. Abdu Mohammed Bello, was appointed Managing Director.
The President also appointed four Executive Directors: Engineer Nafisatu Asabe Ali for Systems Operation, Engineer Shehu Abba-Aliyu for Systems Planning, Dr. Edmund Eje for Market Operations, and Mr. Babajide Ibironke for Finance and Corporate Services.
The Non-Executive Directors include Engineer Lamu Audu, representing Generation; Mrs Folake Soetan for Distribution; Mr Tajudeen Giwa-Osagie as Market Expert; Engineer Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz for Transmission, and Alhaji Mahmuda Mamman, Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Power.
Tinubu noted that the appointments which align with the Electricity Act of 2023, followed a memorandum from Vice President Kashim Shettima and a rigorous selection process conducted by the Independent Board Nomination Committee (IBNC) in collaboration with Phillips Consulting Limited.
Recall that on April 30, 2024, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) unbundled the Transmission Company of Nigeria into two entities: the Nigerian Independent System Operator of Nigeria (NISO) and the Transmission Service Provider (TSP), as mandated by the Electricity Act 2023, to improve the power sector’s efficiency and grid reliability.
