By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the appointment of executive and non-executive board members for the newly established Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO).
A statement yesterday in Abuja by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, said Dr. Adesegun Akin-Olugbade will serve as Chairman of the NISO board, while Abdu Mohammed Bello was named its Managing Director.
The President also appointed four executive directors: Nafisatu Asabe Ali to oversee Systems Operation; Shehu Abba-Aliyu for Systems Planning; Dr. Edmund Eje to head Market Operations, and Mr. Babajide Ibironke will lead Finance and Corporate Services.
For non-executive directors, Lamu Audu was appointed to represent Generation; Mrs. Folake Soetan to represent Distribution, and Mr. Tajudeen Giwa-Osagie joins the board as a market expert.
Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz will represent Transmission, while Alhaji Mahmuda Mamman, the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Power, will also serve as a board member.
The National Council on Privatisation (NCP) will oversee the final stages of the recruitment process.
The appointments align with the Electricity Act of 2023, which mandated the unbundling of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) into a Transmission System Provider (TSP) and an Independent System Operator (ISO).
The establishment of NISO marks a crucial milestone in Nigeria’s ongoing power sector reforms.
The NISO was formally created by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on April 30, last year.
Its ownership structure is split between the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI).