NEMSA Investigates Fire Outbreak at Kachikwu’s Home

Chineme Okafor in Abuja
The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), an agency of the federal government saddled with the job of ensuring safe installation and use of electricity in Nigeria, has initiated an investigation on the fire outbreak that occurred at the residence of the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, last Sunday.

The Managing Director of NEMSA, Mr. Peter Ewesor, disclosed yesterday in Abuja, that it had received a report of the incident and was now investigating the cause of the inferno. He said the agency would soon disclose the result of its investigation and that preliminary reports may not show the actual cause of the incident.

A part of the residence of Kachikwu, located along JK Gadzama Crescent within the highbrow Asokoro district of Abuja was on Sunday evening burnt by fire that was ignited by an electrical accident.
It was gathered that first responders and security personnel who were on ground at the time of the incident were able to put off the fire. However, sources close to the development told THISDAY that no casualties or huge losses were recorded from the fire break.
Kachikwu, was also said to be out of town when the fire incident happened, but it was not clear if he was back to Abuja.

As was observed by THISDAY during its visit to the place, the presence of armed mobile security officers at the entry point to the road leading to the house, made it quite difficult to assess the status of the burnt section of the building.
Visitors were required to be cleared by the police officers at the entry point before they could proceed to the house, and those without security clearance were turned back. THISDAY could not gain entrance to the place because the security officials were unwilling to clear it.

But speaking on it, Ewesor said: “Investigation on that, is on and we don’t rush to make judgements when these things happen. That is why we are in collaboration with the Fire Service because a lot of fire accidents have been linked to electricity but eventually they are not.”
He further stated: “We got the report on Monday. Similar thing happened at the residence of Engr. Izuwa, the acting Director of ICRC, and when our men got wind of that, they moved in quickly.”

Recently, Kachikwu had been in the news after he wrote a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari against the Group Managing Director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru, over how the latter runs the corporation. The petition was leaked to the public, and has since generated lots of reactions.

Meanwhile, Ewesor, whose tenure was recently renewed by the federal government, stated that his second tenure would prioritise safe deployment of electricity services to Nigerians, as well as, displacement of quacks in the installation and connection of electricity assets.
He said standardisation of equipment and materials, as well as existence of quackery were major challenges to the industry, adding that these had resulted in electrical accidents and electrocution in the country.

“We are going to intensify our efforts in terms of enforcement of technical standards and regulations, technical inspection, testing and certification of all categories of electrical installations, electricity meters and instruments to ensure the efficient production and delivery of safe, reliable and sustainable power supply and guarantee safety of lives and property in the electricity market and allied industries,” he explained.
Ewesor added: “We will make life unbearable in this second term for people who do not want to obey industry standards.”