On 25th January 2019, the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) graciously commissioned a remodelled electricity lab in Ijora, Lagos State to aid further testing cum confirmation of the commercial viability of the gadgets used by Generating Companies (GenCos), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and Distribution Companies (DisCos), virtually on a daily basis.
Is there anyone who’s domiciled in Nigeria that’s yet to realize what the country has overtime been passing through as regards electricity supply? The apt response to the candid enquiry ought to be ‘No’.
It’s not anymore news that Nigerians in their entirety have hitherto been experiencing untold hardship when it calls for electricity across the nooks and crannies of the acclaimed giant of Africa.
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Aside the fact that the Nigerian State cannot boast of a steady power supply, it’s noteworthy that even the available one is densely characterized by myriad of irregularities alongside poor service delivery by the authorities in charge of the said public utility.
This could be one of the reasons that resulted in the creation of the NEMSA, the government authority that sees to the day-to-day standardization of power supply and other related technical issues across the Nigerian federation.
NEMSA was established to carry out the functions of enforcement of technical standards and regulations, inspection, testing and certification of all categories of electrical installations, meters and instruments, to ensure efficient production cum delivery of safe, reliable and sustainable power supply as well as guarantee safety of lives and property in the Nigerian electricity supply industry coupled with allied matters.
The regular supply of power in any locality around the globe is characterized by three major segments, namely: generation, transmission and distribution. In each of these segments, it’s worth noting that different gadgets or machines are being utilized towards enabling effective and efficient services.
To guarantee apt functionality of these technical materials, an electricity laboratory, or otherwise known as ‘electricity lab’, is needed in the process by the relevant authorities. It’s the said lab that would assure the genuineness and adequacy of the gadgets before they are duly installed in the localities where they are required.
Similarly, whenever any of the instruments broke down or malfunctioned, the lab in question is being used to run some needed tests, or technical diagnoses, to ascertain what is/are actually wrong with them as well as map out strategies on how best the anomalies could be addressed. After the needed ‘diagnosis’, and due corrections afterwards, the equipment would further be installed for onward usage.
It was perhaps the keen quest for such a well-equipped testing unit that informed the practical gesture displayed by NEMSA on the aforementioned date. This piece is, however, necessitated by the need to realize how far the said Electricity Lab has fared two years after it was established.
It’s noteworthy that commissioning of the upgraded ‘Chemical and Engineering Laboratory’ received tremendous accolades from numerous stakeholders in the power sector within and outside Nigeria.
In his words, the then Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola who was physically present at the epochal occasion, commended the leadership of the NEMSA for adhering to safety compliance and enhancing the growth of the industry.
He elatedly stated “This is now an upgraded and properly fitted laboratory to help the agency in enforcing compliance in the power sector. This will also make them do their jobs effectively now that they have tools. We hope there will be improvement in all the operators’ compliance conducts”.
In his remarks, the Managing Director of the NEMSA, Mr. Peter Ewesor proudly disclosed that the remodelling of the lab would help the agency to curb substandard equipment in the power sector.
He said “The facility is a specialized analytical laboratory for inspection, sampling, testing and analysis services for transformer insulating and lubricating oils. Others include greases of various grades, turbine oil, and hydraulic oil, used in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) and allied industries as well as potable and effluent water resources.”
Mr. Ewesor, a chartered engineer and equally the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, further revealed “This laboratory has been operating as a reference quality control laboratory for the entire power industry since the era of the defunct NEPA and PHCN, and now in the post-privatization era when NEMSA took it over in a dilapidated state in 2014. NEMSA, in realization of its key role in furthering its mandate as enshrined in NEMSA Act-2015, embarked on the upgrading and remodelling of the laboratory to provide accurate tests and analyses.”
He added that the electricity lab was equipped with a wide range of world-class test equipment, instruments and devices, including Dissolved Gas Analyzer (DGA) – a diagnostic machine. According to the boss, it equally contains equipment for detecting, identifying and evaluating incipient faults within transformers and reactors, such as Dielectric Strength Tester (DST) to determine oil viscosity.
At the time, I stated that NEMSA may had done novel by thinking it wise to come up with the milestone, but was rather bothered over a certain cankerworm that has overtime bedevilled the Nigeria’s system, which was and remained sustainability syndrome. The country’s sustenance culture has unabated colossally deteriorated that it has eaten deep into her blood stream.
It’s on this premise I urged the leadership of the NEMSA to ensure the lab was secured and safeguarded at all cost, so that, it would thoroughly succeed in actualizing the core motives for which it was established or upgraded.
I therefore advised that the authority must be prepared to fish out saboteurs in their midst having been proven that in any clime or entity, there must be a Judas, thus the NEMSA wouldn’t be an exception. I actually meant that the unpatriotic Nigerians or unscrupulous elements found in the agency needed to be shown the way out without much ado if its management was truly ready to soar beyond expectations.
The power story in Nigeria still remains the same in various quarters across the country in spite of all efforts put together by various relevant authorities, hence the need for the NEMSA to step up actions in doing the needful.
More so, as the concerned authorities strive towards improving power supply across the federation, the NEMSA alongside the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), needs to become more proactive in their day-to-day bid to monitor the activities of the GenCos, TCN and DisCos by respectively setting up mobile technical teams in different part of the country.
There ought to equally be a daily routine to checkmate the activity of the men at the field towards averting or curtailing series of prangs being played by them while at work. This measure will go a long way in sustaining the adequacy of the installed gadgets at different localities.
Two years after we celebrated the emergence of the milestone, let the NEMSA be reminded that the teeming Nigerians are still variously suffering from an untold hardship in the hands of the stakeholders that are meant to serve and protect them.