….Says Agency Is Re-strategising To Enhance Service Delivery To Nigerians
The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) says it is putting in place a system that will ensure that all electrical materials including meters and transformers imported into the country or manufactured locally, meet the right standards and are in conformity with the Nigerian climatic conditions.
Chairman NEMSA Governing Boards, Mr. Suleiman Yahaya stated this at a retreat for members of the board in Lagos.
He explained that when electrical materials are of standards and suitable to prevailing climatic conditions, they would last longer, generate the right output and offer Nigerians value for their money.
Mr. Yahaya said NEMSA was planning a strong synergy with relevant government agencies including the Standards Organisations of Nigeria, towards putting up a system that brings about standardization in the nation’s electricity Industry.
The NEMSA chairman warned that henceforth,meters brought into the country must have the right specifications and accurately configured to give the right readings, thereby ensuring that Nigerians pay for only what they consume.
To that effect, Mr. Yahaya stated that the retreat was timely to properly educate the board members and intimate them about the vision of the agency.
Mr. Yahaya who also said that efforts were being upscaled towards increasing electricity generation, hinted that drastic moves were being made to improve the agency’s revenue, so that it would be financially automous, without replying on government to fund key projects needed to enhance service delivery Nigerians.
He explained that the objective of the retreat was to adequately inform members about the policy directions of the agency.
Contributing , Managing Director of the agency, Mr Aliyu Tukur pointed out that the plan was to strengthen enforcement in all areas of operations to achieve maximum safety and output.
To achieve standardisation in metering , Mr. Tukur disclosed that NEMSA has approved three different tests on Meters ,namely type testing , routine test and certification tests.
In a presentation tagged, “understanding the concept of Public Private Partnership, PPP, the lead resource person, Mr. Olukayode Fabunmi urged that when putting up government facilities for concession,the concern of the affected agency should always be on how to transform the facility for it to provide improved services to members of the public.
While observing that PPP was evolving in the country, Mr.
Fabunmi was of the opinion that the major problem has remained the area of project implementation, adding that more resources were needed to be injected in that area.
He said for the success of any PPP, a performance standard must be set up and maintained; time frame alloted to every project; terms of agreement clearly defined and the mathematics behind the figures carefully studied.
Mr. Fabunmi also opined that there was need for competition in any PPP, to bring in more private sector organisations and reduce cost on the part of government.
NEMSA was established 8 years ago to regulate the nation’s electricity industry.
