By Moses Uwagbale
The West African Power Pool (WAPP) has appointed the Acting Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr Sule Abdulaziz, the new chairman of its executive board.
TCN’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Mrs Ndidi Mbah made this known in a statement in Abuja on Thursday.
Mbah said that the West African Power Pool (WAPP) was created by Decision A/DEC.5/12/99 of the 22nd Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government.
She said that WAPP was adopted during the 29th Summit of the ECOWAS Authority of Heads of State and Government held in Niamey.
She said that the appointment was made during the 46th meeting of the WAPP Executive Board chaired by the Secretary General, Ki Sengui held via video conference on Oct. 21.
Mbah said that Abdulaziz was nominated by the former Managing Director of Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN), Mr Joe Makoju, who is a honourary member of WAPP.
“While making the nomination, Makoju noted that Abdulaziz is an expert in engineering with vast experience in the electricity sector and therefore will perform creditably as the new WAPP Executive Board Chairman.
“His proposal was endorsed by MDs and director generals and other members of the board,” she said.
Mbah said that Abdulaziz in his acceptance speech thanked the board members and the honourary members for his nomination as the chairman of the board.
According to her, the TCN boss assures them of his total commitment to the overall objective of the regional electricity body.
She said that he also expressed the need to move the pool to the next level of operational efficiency and solicited the support of member utilities, especially members of the executive board in this regard.
“He equally encouraged all WAPP member utilities to continue to collaborate actively with the secretariat to ensure effective and efficient coordination and implementation of the all WAPP programmes.
“He, however, urged members to ensure prompt payment of their contributions to the pool.
“He also informed the meeting that TCN’s contribution will be remitted very soon as President Muhammadu Buhari had graciously approved the payment,” she said.
