Regular power supply depends on standard network systems

NIGERIA Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) has said that safety, reliability, quality, and efficiency of power supply to populace largely depends on quality of networks and systems built according to specification and standard.

Speaking at inauguration of Ilorin zonal electrical installation contractor certification panel ( ZEICCP) in Ilorin on Thursday, the managing director/ CEO of NEMSA, Engineer Peter Ewesor, said that old equipment were not causes of frequent electrical network/system collapse and failure as regularly adduced.

Engineer Ewesor, who said that many lapses had been identified in the power sector and other workplaces where electricity was used, added that such lapses included design and construction failure, improper planning and execution of electrical projects and use of sub standard materials and equipment.

He said others included deliberate oversight of the procedure, codes and requirements for executing electricity projects as specified by regulations and standard codes of practice, lack of adherence to standard construction and installation, including inadequate safety provision during construction and subsequent utilisation of network.

“These lapses are largely responsible for the networks getting into issues of disrepair soon after commissioning them for use, and not aging equipment and network as regularly adduced as the causes of frequent networks/system collapse and failure”, he said.

Also speaking, Engineer Alabi Muyiwa, said that the key objective of certification was to ensure that only skilled, experienced and competent professionals engage in business of electrical installations in Nigeria.

“I look forward to a time in Nigeria that there will be a regulation in force that only holders of this certification will be able to buy electrical materials in market as it is practiced in some other part of the world. This will ensure that only certified contractors participate in electrical matters because it will be documented against the buyer and the seller,” he said.