The Senate has assured Nigerians and critical stakeholders in the power sector that the bill being considered by the National Assembly to amend the Electricity Act, will instill sanity in the sector when passed.
The Chairman, Senate Committee on Power, Senator Gabriel Suswan, said when his panel visited the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency on Tuesday, to carry out oversight functions.
NEMSA is a Federal Government agency saddled with the responsibilities of enforcing technical standards and regulations in the power sector through inspection, testing and certification of electrical equipment and products.
However, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NEMSA, Peter Ewesor, complained to the Senate panel that some electricity distribution companies were still carrying out some responsibilities placed on his agency by the Act that established it.
He said, “We are statutorily established to carry out inspection, testing and certification of all categories of electrical installations.
“We are also to inspect electrical installations in factories, public places and hazardous locations and we are also empowered to investigate electrical accidents and electrocutions.
“Inspection and certification of electric concrete poles and monitoring of existing networks are also part ofElectricity Act will instil sanity in power sector – Senate our statutory responsibilities.
“We discovered that some Discos are also carrying out some of our assigned roles claiming that the Act that set them up also gave them powers to play those roles.”
Ewesor told the Senate panel that his office had received some information about certain Discos which procured meters and distributions them without recourse to NEMSA for proper testing before deployment.
Reacting to the concerns raised by NEMSA, the chairman of the Senate panel said all the infractions going on in the sector would be checked when the Electricity Act has been passed federal parliament.
Suswan said, “What we are doing as a parliament is that we have initiated a bill to amend the Electricity Act for the country.
The proposed legislation will take care of most of the infractions that go unpunished in the sector, most of the time.”
Suswan said NEMSA had a lot of responsibilities to carry out in the power sector but that it was unfortunately not being properly funded.
