By Peter Uzoho
The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has
said Nigeria will likely experience an economic renaissance in the
country’s electricity sub-sector with the implementation of the Meter
Asset Provider (MAP) policy of the federal government.
Fashola also disclosed that at the moment, a total of 108 companies
have applied for license as MAPs, saying they are in the process of being certified by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory
Commission (NERC) and other relevant bodies.
The minister said this recently while inaugurating the newly-upgraded/remodelled chemical and engineering laboratory of the
Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) at Ijora
Olopa, Lagos.
He explained that the MAP policy would relieve the pressure on the
finances of distribution companies (DisCos) in terms of supply of meters,
pointing out that the policy “does not discharge the DisCos of their
contractual obligation with the nation.”
Fashola added: “At this moment, 108 companies have applied and they are
going through the process of being certified by NERC.
“Of course, we understand the major economy underneath all of this policy. When those companies begin to operate, they are going to employ people:
technicians, installers, who are going to be trained – many of them
have been trained really, by our training institute (NAPTIN) and
people don’t know that we have them producing certified and trained
technicians within the value chain.
“So as this policy kicks in, you are going to see a lot of employment opportunities, supply, installation, wiring and so on and so forth.
“If you remember we were at our meter testing station in Oshodi a couple
of months back. So in essence we will likely see again an economic renaissance in the electricity sub-sector just like you saw in the telecom sector in terms of telephone sets, repairs, vending and so on. So this is going to happen in a matter of months.”
He, however, said the NEMSA laboratory would help the agency which is
in charge of enforcing safety compliance in the electricity sub-sector
do their job.
“They now have the tools to now do their job and we hope that there
will be improvement in all the operators’ compliance in conduct. And the agency now having the tools can enforce compliance and say you comply or you don’t comply, and that should translate to a better service delivery in the entire value chain,” he added.
Earlier in his remark, the Managing Director of NEMSA, Mr. Peter
Ewesor, said the laboratory was equipped with a wide range of world
class test equipment, instruments, and devices which include: the
Dissolved Gas Analyser (DGA) – a diagnostic equipment for detecting,
identifying and evaluating incipient faults occurring within
transformers and reactors and Dielectric Strength Tester – to determine the insulation levels; among others.
