From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Although, Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), is not a household name in the power sector, it’s functions in the electricity supply value chain are clear and undisputable.
The agency ensures that substandard electrical materials are not smuggled into the country, installed or used in homes and industries. By so doing, it has saved lives and property in homes and in businesses.
As the policeman of the power industry, the agency has prevented, arrested, prosecuted and jailed many violators. In this interview with Daily Sun, the Managing Director of NEMSA, Tukur Tahir, admitted that the agency was yet to arrive its prefered destination but it’s working hard to attain its goal.
“We are not where we want to be. We are moving there gradually and very soon we will be there” he said.
What is NEMSA doing to upgrade the low level of awareness its function?
Let me start by saying that Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) carries out the enforcement of technical standards, technical regulations, technical inspection and certification of all categories of electrical inspections; electrical meters and instruments to ensure efficient production of safe reliable and efficient power supply in the country. You will agree with me that electricity has become a daily part of our life because we use it to do a lot of things. Even our transport system is being electrified now. But electricity is associated with a lot of hazards and these hazards are real.
So, these hazards must be effectively mitigated for us to be able to use electricity safely. Mitigating these standards led to the development of technical standards and regulations. There is one thing to develop the technical standards and regulations and there’s another thing for effective enforcement. That’s the reason NEMSA was established in the first place. You know in the process of enforcement of standards and regulations, these regulations have requirements and for you to comply with all the requirements, in your installation works in order to mitigate the hazards associated with electricity, our testing and certification activities check your compliance level. You also agree with me that in the process of checking your compliance level you may come across violations here and there. And when there are these violations some may correct them and some may not correct them because it involves investment. It inconveniences people and in such situations it will now lead to the escalation to the court of law. So, the act establishing the Electricity Act, especially the new act 2023 has now given out procedures on how we go about prosecuting offenders, prosecuting violators. We are not praying that people should be prosecuted but definitely we will have one or two as we have seen in recent times. We have seen violations and there are cases that NEMSA won in court. I can remember that of Akure where an entity refused us entry into the premises to carry out inspection. They even took us to court for damages. At the end the day, the court ruled in the favour of NEMSA, so giving us a big advantage in the industry.
Why many people know little about the activities of NEMSA
The good thing is that we are all stakeholders of electricity. We are all consumers of electricity but we need to know the hazards associated with electricity. We need to know that electricity must be under control, every day, every hour, every second. The moment you leave it to get out of control then one is now the target. That means, you are now allowing it to be our master. So, electricity is a good servant but a bad master. Once you allow it to be your master then you will not leave to tell the story. That’s why it’s very important to sensitise the citizens. To sensitise everyone on very important function of NEMSA. To sensitise everyone on the consequences of misusing electricity because it’s a matter of safety of life and property. If you are ignorant and you don’t know yet you can end up sustaining injury or even losing your life. So, sensitisation is key to making Nigerians aware of the hazards associated with defective methods of using electricity.
How many of violators have you arrested or prosecuted
Sanctions that come as a result of violations vary. Sanctions start by disconnecting the offending networks. Sanctions also come in terms of withdrawing the certificate of the person that carried out the installation or suspending the certificate of that electrical installation personnel. Sanctions also come in the form of asking you to remove everything and replace it because you are going to make additional investments in order to redo that network. Then sanctions can come through the court processes.
Our achievements so far
The agency, NEMSA, has achieved a lot. For clarity, I want to categorise the achievements into three.
One is the achievement of the agency in the development of fixed assets. Another one is the execution of its mandates. That’s, through the activities it’s carrying out across the country. Three, is the achievement of the agency in terms of facilitating the effective discussion with members.
Let me start with that of the assets. NEMSA inherited three meter test stations and these three meter test stations were immediately remodelled and brought to international standard. And three additional test stations were now built across the country bringing the number of test stations to six. We are talking of the achievements of the agency from inception. NEMSA has carried out a number of inspections of electrical installations. At the last count, we have achieved electrical installations across the country. We have also done that same number of existing networks across the country. We have certified about 11,000 electrical inspection personnel across the country.
On the facilitation measures, in the course of our activities, we discovered that most of these installers especially the certified electrical installations and utility companies find it a little difficult meeting the requirements of regulations and standards. So, NEMSA publishes the construction on installation guidelines manual that illustrates how you go about certifying the minimum requirements of the standards and regulations in the country. And this has helped the installers and has helped the inspectors across the country and has helped the utility companies in meeting some of the requirements of the standards and regulations of the country. This is one of the facilitation measures that NEMSA carried out. NEMSA also has looked at the global best practice and has gone for ISO 9,001 certification as collecting management system so that the processes of NEMSA activities will become transparent and accountable. That certification has helped us to have all the necessary documentations. That certification has helped us to have all the job descriptions by each and every staff of the agency.
It has also helped each and everyone of the agency to know the key performance indicators. Those things that he needs to deliver on daily basis, on weekly basis and on quarterly and annual basis. This has been tracked regularly within the agency. This has improved the efficiency of the agency. And we have also forgotten the ISO 17,240 certification that has to do with the certification of technical personnel in the country and this means that our certification is recognised globally because I have seen instances where engineers come from Niger Republic, Benin Republic to get our certification. I have seen a situation whereby some of our certified engineers travel abroad and are recognised with that certificate issued to them and this is a plus to the country.
How have you been able to tackle the challenge of funding?
I agree with you 100 per cent. This issue of funding is not only affecting NEMSA. Other agencies have this funding across the country. When we came on board, we looked at this challenge. We went out and asked for improved funding. We made justifications for improved funding and we are hopeful that our justification will be looked at and the agency’s funding will improve. The chairman, Senate Committee on Power and that of House Committee on Power gave an assurance that the agency’s funding will be critically looked at especially during this budget cycle we are in now.
We are also looking outside the box because we have a lot of development partners that have a lot of funds that are within the country. We have paid courtesy visits to so many of them. And that has yielded some efforts. I can remember, an organisation bought equipment for NEMSA. I can remember, GIZ also gave training to NEMSA’s engineers and technical officers and they also help NEMSA in developing some of these guidelines manuals that I mentioned before. And we are also working with others like Korea. We made submissions to the development partners from Korea through the Ministry of Budget and National Planning. That submission is getting a necessary consideration. I can remember, the African Development Bank (AfDB) has visited us. We have interaction with them and so on and so forth. When all these things come on board the issue of funding will be reduced drastically and we will be able to do those activities we wanted to do.
Conflict of functions with Chartered Institute of Power Engineers (CIPEN)
I just want to tell you that there’s no way you can have a water-tight separation among functions of agencies of government. But every agency has its own main mandates. So, those main mandates will never be in conflict with any other mandate. But you can have overlap. What is needed is collaboration among the agencies because collaboration will be able to take care of the little overlap that we have. We can decide to say, you do up to this point and I will take care of where you stopped. So that collaboration is key for the achievement of every mandate. So, it’s a welcome development that they got their act. It’s a welcome development that the board was inaugurated recently.
What are the provisions of NEMSA’s new electricity act?
We thank God that Mr President signed into law the new Electricity Act, 2023. It brought together all the regulations. All the laws within the power sector into one document. Before the electricity act, we had NEMSA Act. We had Electric Power Sector Reform Act (EPSR) Act, we had Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission ( HYPPADEC) Act. So, the coming of the electricity act brought these acts together in one document. So, that’s a novelty in itself. Another thing is that the state governments are involved in the development of electricity network across the country. With the advent of the privatisation of the power sector, they were somehow left behind. So, this new electricity act has brought them on board and very soon we start to see investment from the state governments on the development of infrastructure in the power sector in the country. The provision of NEMSA’s Act 2015 that established NEMSA were also taken entirely into 2023 with additional provisions.
I will not be able to mention the exact provisions but I can describe them. One of the provisions is that either new electrical works or upgrade of any electrical installations are no longer allowed to be used without the testing and certification by NEMSA. We were not having such provisions in NEMSA Act but now we have it. Another provision is that utility companies are now mandated to report electrical accidents to NEMSA within 48 hours for investigation. NEMSA will carry out the investigation of these electrical accidents to find out the root causes, make recommendations to forestall future occurrence. This is another addition to NEMSA. Another addition is that no electricity meter tested and certified by NEMSA will be rejected. So, every consumer now is mandated to accept every NEMSA certified electricity meter in his premises. So, if you don’t have NEMSA certified electricity meter you should report either to the electricity company or to NEMSA because you are not sure if the meter is actually measuring the right quantity. You are not sure if the utility company is cheating you or you are cheating the utility company. Either way, it’s not accepted. When you now see that the two features that every certified meter has ——-the cream seal and NEMSA test label——–then you are sure that the meter has gone through the laboratories of NEMSA. You are sure that that meter is quality and can measure electricity accurately and the distribution company (DisCo) will not be cheated and you the customer will not also be cheated.
The new act has also mandated NEMSA to enforce all technical standards and technical regulations across the country. So, regulations on standards made by Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON) for the power sector, regulations by the Nigerian Electricity Regulations Commission (NERC), regulations made by the state governments are also to be subjected to NEMSA’s enforcement. So, this has given NEMSA wider coverage.
Do you have the capacity?
We are not there where we want to be. But we are moving to where we want gradually. What I mean by that is that NEMSA’s assets are improving as I told you earlier on. We are now having six meter stations. NEMSA already has a plan on ground to build more meter stations. One within the north east and the second within the north central geo-political zone. NEMSA is also opening more inspectorate field offices. We are already working towards an inspectorate field office in Minna, Niger State and Dutse in Jigawa State. We are also working on opening an engineering and chemical lab at Jos. The land has been acquired and fenced. What remains now are the buildings and to stock the building with test equipment. So, NEMSA is expanding gradually. We are not where we want to be. We are moving there gradually and very soon we will be there.
What is the role of NEMSA in the states that are expected to generate electricity?
As I said earlier on, the new electricity act has given NEMSA powers to enforce all regulations and standards developed by agencies. Any standard or regulation that has to do with electricity or power supply has to be enforced by NEMSA
Collaboration with state governors?
This is the key area we are looking at. We have already spoken on that. You know we have what we call the National Council on Power headed by the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu. This National Council on Power comprises all the state ministries of power. It also comprises all the state governments and federal government agencies. It’s at this forum that the national electricity policy is being discussed and developed. It’s at that forum that the implementation of this policy is being discussed so that the state agencies and the federal government agencies know what’s their take in the implementation of these policies. And at this forum, a lot of issues come. I can remember that in the last meeting, we made presentations concerning one of the areas we discovered across the power value chain that have limitations and it was given to NEMSA to enforce those actions to free those areas of the networks which we are already working on. As MD of NEMSA I still remain the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation and when you talk of the federation you are talking about the states within the federation and the local governments.