By Peter Uzoho
The Minister of Power, Mr. Sale Mamman has revealed that one of the major problems constraining the efficient transmission and distribution of electricity in the country is the preponderance of poor or obsolete equipment in the power sector.
Mamman according to a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Communications, Mr. Aaron Artimas, stated this when he played host to the national executive members of the Nigerian Society of Engineers (NSE) in his office in Abuja, recently.
The minister appealed to Nigerian engineers not to grant certification for any equipment imported or installed on any project except they met the required standard.
He called Nigerian engineers to make innovations or designs for various engineering activities as a way of establishing their own standard.
Mamman maintained that the country has continued to rely on foreign designs because the country’s engineers have not established their own.
The minister assured them that the Ministry of Power would collaborate with the NSE in its efforts to improve power generation, transmission and distribution in the country.
Earlier, the President of the society, Mr. Babagana Mohammed, disclosed that in view of the lingering epileptic power supply in the country, the NSE has constituted an Ad-Hoc committee to carry out a holistic study and assessment of the problems associated with generation, transmission and distribution of power in Nigeria.
He said the initiative was meant to compliment the efforts of government to truthfully revitalise the energy sector.
Mohammed, however, emphasised that the NSE and the Federal Ministry of Power have a collective duty and inescapable responsibility to provide lasting solutions to the power supply problem in Nigeria.
He used the occasion to intimate the minister on some of the activities of the society, which includes, the offer of five years scholarships to some secondary school students to the tune of N16million and donation of N10 million to the federal government through the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in support of the fight against COVID-19 pandemic in the country.
