The Anambra State House of Assembly has confirmed the nomination of the Chairman/Chief Executive Commissioner and Commissioners of the Anambra State Electricity Regulatory Commission (ASERC).
This followed a letter transmitted to the House by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, requesting the screening and confirmation of the five nominees.
The five nominees were Prof. Frank Okafor as the Chairman/Chief Executive Commissioner, while Engr. Geoffrey Nwokoye, Dr. Nnaemeka Ewelukwa, Engr. Nosike Emmanuel and Barr. Chijioke Obi are to serve as Commissioners.
Speaking after the confirmation, the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Somtochukwu Udeze, charged them to bring their wealth of experiences to bear in what he called ‘a call to serve Ndi Anambra.’
“Anambra will be glad to have you as a team working for them. Also, bear in mind that your job starts now and the people expect more from you.”
While congratulating the newly confirmed members, the Speaker urged them to discharge their duties diligently and in accordance with the law.
He stressed the importance of the Commission in regulating electricity supply and ensuring efficient service delivery in the state, especially as Anambra advances its electricity sector reforms.
The nominees had earlier been screened by the House Committee on Screening and Election Matters, headed by the Deputy Speaker, Hon Chukwuma Okoye.
Responding, the Chairman ASERC, Prof Frank Nwoye Okafor appreciated the House for confirming their appointment, assuring that the new commission will improve power availability and revenue assurance to the DISCO and investors.
“There should be means for investors to collect money for power delivered and the consumer will be very happy to pay.
“The other one is growing the consumption which is currently so small. CENGUS is dispensing about 2500mega watts, our own is still under 200. So for us to grow, we will make sure that industries that consume power come here to reduce drastically the rate of crime in the state,” he said.
Prof Okafor further assured that investors in renewable energy who wish to invest in the state, will be welcome by the state Electricity Renewable Energy.
Speaking to newsmen, the Commissioner for Power and Water Resources, Engr Julius Chukwuemeka said a great milestone has been achieved by the confirmation of the new five-man commission and expressed optimism that the state will soon have more improvement in power sector.
“The new commission will help us to domesticate electricity in Anambra. As you are aware the 2023 Electricity Act empowered state governments to take ownership of their electricity markets. You cannot do this without electricity regulatory commission to regulate the electricity value-chain in the state.
“Soon the state will be writing the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to transfer the regulatory functions within the Anambra State boundary (intra boundary regulation) to this commission to enhance improved power supply.
“While preparing the ground for this commission to come up, we have prepared other documents for them to start off immediately.
“Like while drafting the Anambra State Electricity Law 2025, we have equally prepared the integrated Resource Planning Document – a forecast of energy demand within the state, and also drafted the Anambra State Electricity Policy. So the commission have these documents to work with.”
Engr Chukwuemeka further commended the governor for selecting seasoned technocrats in the electricity sector to service in the state Electricity Regulatory Commission, describing them as round peg in a round hole.
He assured of a good synergy between the mother ministry and the Commission for the betterment of Ndi Anambra and residents.
“NERC will also have some function in executing inter-state power management between Anambra and other states. Also, we are not kicking out Enugu Electricity Regulatory Commission (EEDC), whose function falls within the purview of Discos, essentially meant to form their subsidiary companies (subCOS), in accordance with Electricity Act 2023. This has already been set in Anambra.”###
