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From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
As part of moves to curb the regular collapse of the national grid, federal government has commenced the digitisation of the electricity supply system.
To this effect, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Nigerian Independent System Operator (NISO), Abdu Bello Mohammad said during the unveiling of the NISO logo in Abuja, that Nigeria is synchronising its electricity system with West Africa Power Pool (WAPP).
He stated that Nigeria was one of the countries that initiated WAPP adding that other countries had left it behind.
NISO, Mohammed, said, did not emerge from thin air. It was born out of reform mandated by law and driven by a national imperative for transparency, neutrality, and reliability in grid operations and electricity market coordination.
“The Electricity Act 2023, which repealed the Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSRA) of 2005, did not just change the rules, it changed the structure. And in that structure, Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) took a bold and necessary step to ring-fence the Independent System Operator (ISO) functions from Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and birth a fully independent system operator. A system operator with a name, a face, and a mission of its own” he said.
According to the MD, NISO which was unbundled from TCN, for effective management of the grid, is already engaging stakeholders for further direction.
“We are engaging stakeholders with a fresh posture. We are no longer an appendage; we are a principal actor and we now sit at the table with the authority of our mandate and the clarity of our purpose.
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“We intend to deepen our participation globally, with partners like the West African Power Pool (WAPP) where we contribute not just as observers, but as allies in regional electricity planning. Our site engagements especially of the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) project and the level of completion with site inspections of Gwagwalada and Katampe substations reflect a management team that is not content with boardroom assumptions; we go and see for ourselves.
“We have commenced the digitisation and automation initiative, in partnership with global technology leaders, Huawei. This will give us real-time system visibility, smart data analytics, and modern SCADA infrastructure. Let me put it simply: this is the kind of progress that turns institutions from reactive to proactive” he said
On the logo itself, he noted that it represents energy flow and reflects structure as well as control.
“Our logo, represents energy flow, and balance. It reflects structure. It reflects motion. And above all, it reflects control. The kind of control a system operator must maintain over an increasingly complex power system.
“Our mission is clear and unambiguous; to manage Nigeria’s electricity grid with reliability, efficiency and transparency, enabling a sustainable and competitive power sector that drives economic growth and improves quality of life” Mohammed maintained.
