Anambra State Governor, Willie Obiano has commended President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Dr Nnaemeka Ewelukwa the chief executive of the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading PLC (NBET), popularly known as the Bulk Trader.
In a release signed by the state Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, C. Don Adinuba, the governor observed that the president couldn’t have appointed a more qualified, competent and reform-minded technocrat for the job”.
The Minister of Power, Engineer Saleh Mamman, announced two weeks ago President Buhari’s approval of Dr Ewelukwa as replacement for Dr Marylyn Amobi, also from Anambra State, whose five year tenure will end on July 24.
According to the governor,“It is self-evident that the president recognises the critical role of the NBET in the electricity value chain in Nigeria and so went for the best to help move the entire power sector in a different direction”.
Governor Obiano observed that the new NBET CEO played a key role on the team which identified serious legal, regulatory and policy constraints to the development of Nigeria’s electricity and suggested ways to overcome the challenges.
“Due to the exceedingly impressive work done by such outstanding technocrats as Professor Nnaji and Dr Ewelukwa, the British and American governments, among others, assisted Nigeria to develop the critical power infrastructure”, noted the governor who also recalled how such global firms as General Electric of the United States, Siemens of Germany and Daewoo Heavy Industries of South Korea took an unprecedented interest in the country’s power sector.
Obiano described Ewelukwa as “infectiously humble and principled, a team player and farsighted leader with a good international exposure, key leadership requirements in today’s globalized world”, adding that he is confident that Dr Ewelukwa would bring glory to Nigeria the way a number of Anambra indigenes given critical national assignments discharged their duties.
“The whole nation remembers with nostalgia the fantastic work done since the restoration of democracy by such sons and daughters of Anambra State like Professor Chukwuma Charles Soludo as the Central Bank governor, Professor Dora Akunyili as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration (NAFDAC) Director General; Engineer Ernest Ndukwe as the CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Mrs Oby Ezekwesili as head of the Due Process Office before becoming the Minister of Solid Minerals and later Minister of Education; as well as Engineer Emeka Eze as the Bureau for Public Procurement Director General”.
Dr Ewelukwa, the NBET general counsel, until his appointment, has been involved in Nigeria’s power sector reform for at least 10 years, having worked at the Presidential Task Force on Power (PTFP), headed by Professor Bart Nnaji before he was appointed the Minister of Power in July, 2011, and led the greatest revamping of Nigeria’s perennially problematic power sector.
As the pioneer NBET general counsel and secretary, he led the team which negotiated with independent power producers on power purchase agreements (PPAs) and thus enabled huge investments from the private sector into Nigeria’s electricity generation business.
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