The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency, Engr Peter Ewesor recently gave an insightful presentation on the issues that plague the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry when he said to border on lack of adherence to the standard electrical specifications and safety requirements for installations. According to him, there are instances where electrical system planning does not tally with the eventual installations, leading to unsafe and high-risk situations.
In his words, “We see many cables in Nigeria today 75mm, 70mm, and all manner of substandard specifications and the presence of many substandard materials in the system”.
Speaking further on the roles of NEMSA during facility inspections, Engr Ewesor who doubles as the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation stated that Equipment and Material Matching is done to ensure adherence to the full requirement and specifications, in which the standard design and planning must match with the completed facility, only after this is the certification awarded. To buttress the reason as to why checking and testing is essential, using a substation installation as an example, he explained that “if a substation was said to be 500 KVA and then after checking and testing, they find out that the transformer put there is not actually a 500 KVA, because some people would have a 300 KVA transformer and falsify the name plate as 500 KVA, but through the test NEMSA can detect and find out that the transformer is not meeting the required standard”.
When it comes to certification, he stated that “no associations or persons have any right to stop anyone who possesses the NEMSA certification from working or doing any installations” as there has been a lot of complaints of such incidents. He continued by saying that “Individual and Corporate NEMSA Certifications are one and the same, with the individual certification being higher, left to him; but the only difference is that Corporate certificate was designed to mitigate businessmen who are not electrical engineers but can establish and fund a company, and is working with an electrical engineer to do business properly”. Furthermore, he touched on why the agency enforces the use of 33 KVA line to feed an injection substation despite kilometres and challenges that might prevent it, stressing that it is best to follow the guidelines and standards no matter what, to prevent power issues, collapse, shut-down and disasters.
The virtual lecture was presented during the monthly meeting of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE), Ikeja Branch, with the theme “NEMSA: Enforcement Mandate, Technical Inspection/Certification Functions & Responsibilities in Nigeria”.
According to the agency’s act, vision and mission statement, they ensure that there is positive growth and scaling in the electricity industry; infrastructure-wise, by enforcing technical standards and regulations, inspection, testing, and certifications, without which breakdown and stagnation is inevitable.
He went on to breakdown in detail, that the mandate of NEMSA is not only in the best interest of the end-user but for everyone on the value chain, including DisCos, GenCos, and the Transmission company, among others. He cited an instance where installing a faulty meter can translate to the customer using more electricity than expected, which in turn would result in a financial loss for the distribution company.
Stating expressly, Engr. Ewesor emphasized that the agency does not operate in isolation but works in collaboration with relevant players in the industry locally, such as the Federal Consumer Protection Council, Standard Organization of Nigeria, Fire Services, and internationally; GIZ and USID who the agency have jointly developed the guideline for inspecting mini-grids in Nigeria, all these “to ensure productive and safety services provided for the supply of electricity”.
To conclude his presentation he stated that “the enforcement of technical standards, regulations, inspections, and certifications is an important aspect of managing the growth of electricity industry of any nation, and therefore there is a need for all industry players and stakeholders to regularly ensure compliance at all times. Any electrical installations, planned, executed, and put into use without NEMSA’s electrical inspector’s test and certification to confirm and ensure the fitness and safety of that particular installation, such installation is illegal and unsafe, and under the laws of the Federal Republic of Nigeria such installations should not be used”.
He enjoined “all stakeholders to ensure compliance to the law for safety and improved power supply at all times and if we all work together, all hands being on deck then we can say we would have a better power industry”.
The branch chairman of NSE Ikeja, Engr Tosin Ogunmola was full of appreciation to Engr Ewesor for the lecture which he considered timely as the nation’s electricity industry struggles to finds its way.
The webinar was well attended as members took turns to ask questions.
