FG to involve Nigerians in meter manufacturing

The Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, has said the Federal Government has concluded plan to open up business to involve more Nigerians in meter manufacturing.

Fashola stated this during an official inspection of the National Meter Test Station in Oshodi, Lagos on Thursday.

According to him, metering is a big issue and government hopes to address it more vigorously this year with regulations that will open up the business to many more Nigerians.

He said that this would reduce the pressure on Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOs) on meter supply.

“The core business of DISCOs is to transport energy, their business is not to supply meters.

“The government will address metering more vigorously this year with regulations which will open up business in metering to more investors.

“This will reduce the pressure on DISCOs so that they can concentrate more on their core business. So, we will open up the business to other people who want to play in the sector once the meter regulations are completed this year,” he said.

The Minister said that Nigeria meter journey from 1950 showed that consumers depended on meters from foreign countries.

“We have seen Nigeria meter journey, the meter from 1950 to date, meters from Greece, Japan, Britain and China, this has shown how our industry totally depends on meters from foreign countries.

“At present, we have over 100million telephone subscribers in Nigeria, but let me ask you, how many telephones are made in Nigeria?

“We spent millions of naira to buy telephones from China and still we will go back and borrow money from China. So, we want to change that in meter industry, we are happy that some Nigerians are manufacturing meter in Nigeria and we promise to support them,” he said.

He said the National Meter Test which was under Nigerian Electricity Management Service Agency (NEMSA) was to test the accuracy of meters before installation.