Chineme Okafor
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has stated that culpable operators in the country’s power sector must be held responsible for recorded losses incurred by the market.
Fashola has also asked the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) to proactively enforce sanctions against any of the operators or stakeholders found guilty of contributing to the operational losses recorded by the market.
He stated this at the just concluded 14th edition of the monthly meeting of power sector operators in Oshogbo, Osun state.
“The daily losses in the power sector are avoidable and must be avoided. Every loss must be accounted for and paid for – be it by cash or by sanction or by the combination of both and more. This is a business and I have had cause to say that in any business that is properly run, when losses begin to occur those who run those businesses pay for them either by losing their jobs, or making refunds or by resigning. We are heading in that direction,” he explained.
He further stated: “Whether it be in government, whether it be in the private sector; we will track every loss and we will apportion it at every door and we expect that those losses will be accounted for. So, this is the time for everyone to sit up, to close up and be ready to assume his own role or ship out of the sector.”
Fashola explained that because a large part of the sector was now in private hands, it was important to emphasise that the burden of compliance would tilt heavier to the side of the private sector.
He added however that with the board of commissioners for the NERC fully in place, they have demonstrated that that they knew why the government appointed them to deliver on the mandate given to them by law.
“It is good to now have the Commissioners of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission fully on board and demonstrably showing that they know why Mr. President appointed them and expectedly they will commit to delivering on the mandate given to them by law and by the appointment,” Fashola said.
Meanwhile, the Abuja Disco, has set up an 8-man investigative team to look into the circumstances surrounding an electrical accident that occurred recently in a neighbourhood of Nyanya, a suburb of the city.
The Disco said in a statement from its Head of Public Relations and Media, Mr. Ahmed Shekarau that a preliminary report on the accident showed that an 11-Kv wire snapped and fell on the roofing sheet of a house in Nyanya.
It said this led to an outbreak of fire which allegedly resulted to the death of a man and a child, and injuries to a woman.
The statement quoted the Discos Director of Risk and Compliance, Collins Chabuka, to have said while inaugurating the probe panel that the decision was in line with the internal incident reporting and investigation procedure guidelines of the Disco, as well as the industry best practice.
Chabuka said in the statement that: “It is AEDC’s internal health and safety policy requirements that all accidents are investigated by independent internal competent persons with extensive industry background, competence and knowledge. The purpose of the investigation is to highlight the shortcomings that may have led to the incident and also to recommend industry best practice and remedial measures to prevent a recurrence.”
