The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammad Buhari, has approved the appointment of Engr Idowu Oyebanjo as the Chief Technical Officer for the FGN Power Company in charge of the Presidential Power Initiative (PPI) handling the Siemens’ deal with Nigeria.
Oyebanjo broke the news today to colleagues and friends thanking God for it. He acknowledged that the appointment was based on merit having devoted life to writing and proffering solutions to the challenges in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI.
Oyebanjo announced “On this day, meritocracy prevailed even in the most doubtful of times.
Without knowing anyone, and without lobbying for any position, I received my second appointment as a government official purely on merit. The first was when I was recruited as a graduate trainee into NNPC some 18 years ago based on merit.
The journey towards this second appointment started from before the privatization of the electricity supply industry. I chose to focus on power systems.
I recognized that the pen is mightier than the sword. I wrote articles on power systems and my preoccupation was the Nigerian Power Sector. I kept my focus and stayed on course. Although people would joke that no one was reading, I knew someone out there was reading”.
Oyebanjo runs a personal blog nigerianpowersystem.wordpress.com where he shares his thoughts and opinions on the ongoings in the Power Sector. According to elated Oyebanjo,
“When my phone rang to intimate me about this appointment, reference was made to my articles 10 times” and the caller said, “It is now time to do all that you can and have written in your articles over the years”.
Many of his professional colleagues agreed that Oyebanjo’s appointment is a well deserved one and a round peg in a round hole. According to Engr. Emmamuel Akinwole, a Past National Chairman of NIEEE, who exclaimed, “what an indefatigable commitment to chosen course.. what a vindication of one’s belief! What a national call based on merit preached endlessly…?
What a challenge to put your ideas to practice? What a call to write your name and profession in gold in an international life-changing popular engagement and call ?”
He advised “As you step in to the appointment, make sure you continue to work as part of a team no matter the challenges, ensure you document and record most meetings and transactions, discuss extensively in and out and be ready to impact and learn from others, etc.”
Engr Idowu Oyebanjo has made several contributions through publications, submission of technical papers, work committees etc to finding solutions to the challenges in the sector.
He thanked all for staying tuned, for their readership, corrections, reviews and more and declared
“It’s time to undertake this assignment of nation building in the power sector”. Oyebanjo is a UK chartered Power System Engineer with a bias in Power Systems Protection. He obtained his Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Lagos and Master from University of Manchester, UK. He has experience in the Management of Energy System and have worked in the Oil, Gas and Power Sectors of the Energy Industry which he considers a rare combination of talent
