The Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) says it has partnered with the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) toward reviving its moribund transformer repairs and testing workshop in Ijora Olopa area of Lagos State.
Mr Chidi Izuwah, ICRC Director-General, who made this known during a facility tour to the workshop on Tuesday, said it would be achieved through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Project.
The transformer workshop, which was built in 1921 had been abandoned.
Izuwah called for private partnership drive in addressing the Nigeria’s physical infrastructure deficits.
He said that visit to the facility was on pre-contract monitoring to see how to ensure that all the moribund Federal Government facilities were revived through the private partnership investments.
Izuwah said that the workshop facility was very important to Discos to quickly fix some of the failed and bad transformers, and equally create jobs to Nigerians.
According to him, we have resolved and made commitment to put back to work the transformer repairs and testing workshop facility through the PPP.
“The electricity supply in the country has been a challenge, but we need to intervene in the infrastructure chain of the distribution segment.
“We are regulating a process by ensuring that all the government’s moribund workshops and facilities are revived and commence operations,” he said.
The director-general said: “This transformer repairs and testing worship is a national asset; so, we are working to ensure effective regulation that will encourage the PPP project.
“ICRC will fast-track PPP initiative to revive the country’s transformers workshops for the benefit of the nation, which is in line with the next level agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari.’’
Izuwah lauded the managing director of NEMSA for ensuring effective regulations in curbing substandard electrical equipment in the power sector.
He said that the key strategic objective for the ICRC was to accelerate investment in national infrastructure through private sector funding by assisting the Federal Government and its Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to implement and establish effective PPP.
In his remarks, Mr Peter Ewesor, the Managing Director of NEMSA, said that rehabilitation of the transformer workshop would attract more investors and create employment for Nigerians.
Ewesor said that if the workshop was revived, it would develop indigenous engineers to embark on repair and assembling of transformers locally.
According to him, there are well over 700,000 bad transformers that are littering around the country, because there was no workshop to repair them.
“NEMSA has ensured that all the imported transformers that failed to meet specifications were rejected from coming into the country.
“In the last few months, we have disallowed about 68 transformers which failed specifications into the country,” he said.
Ewesor said that the agency was also collaborating with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to check the influx of fake and substandard electrical materials and equipment into the country.
He said that the agency had raised a 12-member committee to check importation of substandard electrical equipment into the country.
“Contractors who indulge in such practices feel they are cheating the country, but they are cheating themselves, because once such equipment fails, they will be forced to reinstall it again,” he said.
Ewesor said that the committee comprising five officials from SON and seven from NEMSA was to help trim the flow of substandard equipment.
