ABUJA (Sundiata Post) – The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) and the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) have raised a 12-member committee to check the influx of fake and substandard electrical materials and equipment into the country.
Managing Director of NEMSA, Mr. Peter Ewesor, during the inauguration of the Joint Committee in Abuja said, “This committee which we are inaugurating today will help to take out substandard electrical instantiations. It will greatly minimise the spread as we are trying to cut it from the root by working to ensure that no such materials enter 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 noted.
The committee comprising five officials from SON and seven from NEMSA is to help to trim the flow of substandard equipment and also sensitise the suppliers on the dangers they pose to the use of electricity across households.
In his address, SON acting Director General, Dr Paul Angya, said the initiative started by NEMSA will specifically address issues of poor electrical cables and substandard materials in the power sector.
Citing the Committee’s objectives, Dr. Angya said it will, apart from deepening collaboration between both agencies, reduce and ultimately check use of substandard cables and equipment thereby reducing the rate of loss of lives and properties that usually incurred in electrical-related accidents
“We should leave here with the resolve that government will improve its procurement process to ensure that local manufacturers who have standard products are patronised,” he added.
The committee, which was to have its inaugural meeting after the event, was asked to draft their terms of engagement and modalities for implementing the objectives identified and present it in a week time.
Members of the committee said they will leverage on their access to the NEMSA meter testing station in Lagos and other laboratories to ensure that electrical materials tested as they arrive in Nigeria.