Power sector reforms: NEMSA Bill is in order

It is in this regard that this writer believes that the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority Bill 2014 (NEMSA Bill 2014) could not have come at a more appropriate moment. The Bill, sponsored by Senator Philip Aduda and Hon Patrick Ikhariale, chairmen of committees on power in the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, has […]

It is in this regard that this writer believes that the Nigerian Electricity Management Services Authority Bill 2014 (NEMSA Bill 2014) could not have come at a more appropriate moment. The Bill, sponsored by Senator Philip Aduda and Hon Patrick Ikhariale, chairmen of committees on power in the Senate and House of Representatives respectively, has passed second reading in the House and is at the public hearing stage.
When the first public hearing was held few weeks ago, both Senator Aduda and Hon Ikhariale harped on the need for the power sector to have an agency that is technically qualified to handle issues such as meter testing and certification, and enforcement of technical standards/regulations, among others. They argued that these functions are not under the technical jurisdiction of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
Hon Ikhariale specifically noted that NEMSA Bill, when operational, would help curb line and power cuts, electricity accidents, systems shutdown and blackouts, amongst others. Senator Aduda submitted that the Bill would instil the much needed standardization the sector lacks.
Speaker of House of Representatives Aminu Waziri Tambuwal also added his voice to the urgent need for an effective and efficient regulatory authority that would promote best practices in the power sector. “Trial and error”, according to the speaker, must give way to appropriate standards.
It should be noted that the idea behind NEMSA Bill is to effectively make Electricity Management Services Limited (EMSL), one of the power successor companies, more effective and alive to its responsibilities as enshrined in Part I (Section 8) of the Electric Power Sector Reforms Act 2005 and the Supplementary Regulations Numbers 46 and 47 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria Official Gazette No. 85 Vol. 97 and Government Notice 374 of 2010 respectively.
The EMSL is an offshoot of the Electrical Inspectorate Services (EIS) Department of the Federal Ministry of Power before the power sector reforms, with full complements of technical staff and laboratory and test equipment spread across the country. Currently, EMSL has no less than 16 area offices across the country that help move its services closer to people for greater efficiency.
Apart from this, EMSL has three standard national meter test stations/laboratories located in Lagos, Port Harcourt and Kaduna to perform functions of meter testing, calibration and type test to verify and confirm accuracies whether they conform with international standard or not.
Over the years, the issue of technical gap in the enforcement of technical standards and certification in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) has raised serious concerns among stakeholders. At the Asaba Power Summit in August 2012, the then Minister of Power Prof Barth Nnaji had directed that the EIS Department, now EMSL, should continue to perform these functions.
Thus, the Bill, when passed, and NEMSA becomes a full-fledged agency, would have the mandate to ensure, among others, that electrical materials, equipment and instruments used in NESI are of the right quality, standard and specification; that power systems and networks put in place have been well planned, properly designed and executed before use to ensure that such systems are capable of delivering safe, reliable and regular electricity supply to consumers nationwide, thereby guaranteeing safety of lives and property within NESI and off-grid networks.
 NEMSA is also to ensure that electric meters and instruments used in NESI are of the right type, quality, class and accuracy for proper accountability of energy delivered, supplied and utilized by consumers. NEMSA would ensure that the inherited non-core assets such as meter test stations, clinics, central stores, chemical laboratories and central mechanical and transformer repair workshops are efficiently utilized to provide improved services in the power sector.
At a recent meeting with journalists in Abuja, the Managing Director of EMSL Engineer Peter Ewesor disclosed that some of the services to be offered by EMSL, when fully operational, include facilitating “logistics services for the movement of generation, transmission and distribution equipment from ports to site and also transportation of damaged equipment to EMS repair workshops” as well as providing “storage facilities for all electric power sector players and other related businesses”.
Although some critics have argued that NEMSA Bill, when passed, would amount to duplication of functions between NEMSA and NERC, I beg to disagree as there is nowhere in the enabling laws establishing NERC where the above are embedded. Indeed, having suffered years of backwardness and crass inefficiency in the power sector, Nigeria certainly deserves no less than the best which NEMSA Bill seeks to entrench in the industry.
The National Assembly should be commended for the speed with which it is processing the bill and should be encouraged to pass it without further delay.

Meseko is a journalist and public affairs analyst