Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority, NEMSA, has disclosed plans to outlaw wooden electrical poles, to forestall bad installation practices in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI.
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of NEMSA, Engr. Peter Ewesor, who disclosed this at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, yesterday, said the move became necessary in order to stop the accidents caused by bad wooden poles in the nation’s power sector.
According to Ewesor, “there is no where that good and well treated wooden poles that can stand the test of time are produced in the country; that is how unscrupulous wooden pole producers flood the market with poles that are cheap, but dangerous because they have not been treated. So banning the use of wooden poles is one of the first things that the agency will do in 2016.”
He also said NEMSA is intensifying collaboration with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria, SON, Consumer Protection Council, CPC, and other relevant agencies to ensure that defective electrical equipments do not find their way into the country.
The NEMSA boss maintained that electrical accidents can be reduced to the barest minimum if practices are done according to the rule and also meet international best practices.
He said the agency must ensure that new projects meet international best practices, design and specifications with respect to planning and execution.
Ewesor said such projects must be carried out in such a way that maintenance would be easy for sustainability. He added that part of the plans for the year is to create a platform that would enable every Nigerian to easily report any impending danger to NEMSA.
He also disclosed that the Act establishing the agency was passed into law on May 26, 2015 and it was one of the fastest bills ever passed in the country. “For your information, NEMSA is the only agency in the power sector that has its own full Act.’’
‘‘The EPRS Act is for all of us because it is a participatory and reforming Act which covers all areas of the power sector reform and every agency that has been established.
“But, today we have an Act that is specifically meant for the enforcement of technical standards and regulations, inspections, testing and certification,” he stated.
