By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA), has called for the establishment of an electricity offences tribunal for faster dispensation of electricity-related offences.
The Managing Director of NEMSA, Mr Aliyu Tahir, made the call in Abuja on Thursday at a news conference, noting that the tribunal was necessary as the cost of damages to Nigeria’s electricity infrastructure is too high.
He said the panel should have an inbuilt appeal system.
Recall that vandals had recently damaged the two towers along the Damaturu-Maiduguri 330kV Single Circuit Transmission Line in Northeast Nigeria less than two weeks after it was completed.
Mr Tahir also said that NEMSA an in-house counsel should be vested with powers to prosecute electricity offences.
“The establishment of this tribunal will assist NEMSA to enforce its mandate of ensuring that electrical materials, equipment and instruments used in the Nigeria Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) are of standard and specifications.
“The sanctioning of violators is a long process as it involves several steps to fast-track the prosecution, this tribunal will go a long in ensuring that violators are effectively prosecuted.
“The establishment of this tribunal is not under NEMSA Purveyor and we have made a submission to the legislature on this, ‘’ he said.
According to him, as of March 31, NEMSA had inspected and tested 21, 681 electricity installation projects out of which 13, 154 were certified.
He said that 16, 624 electricity networks were monitored, adding that about 4, 921 factories, hazardous installations and public places were inspected, tested and certified fit.
Mr Tahir said that 2, 655,488 electricity meters were also tested and calibrated and 487 incidences were investigated.
The managing director said that NEMSA was taking several measures to enhance its enforcement activities.
He listed the measures to include the development of the Nigerian electrical and construction guidelines manuals, provision of state-of-the-art equipment for meter test statistics, and expansion of NEMSA facilities across the nation.
Others, he said were the completion and inauguration of a new National Meter Test Station (NMTS) and the opening of a new Inspectorate Field Office (IFO) in Enugu.
“Construction of a new NMTS in Kano and Benin city, the establishment of a new inspectorate field office in Uyo, Akwa Ibom, Minna, Niger, Dutse, Jigawa, Oshodi Lagos, Owerri, Imo and Bauchi.
“NEMSA had issued an enforcement notice to Electricity Distribution Companies (DisCos), to disconnect from their networks all structures within the Right-of-Way(ROW) of transmission and distribution lines nationwide, ‘’ he said.
Mr Tahir assured Nigerians of the agency’s determination to continue its statutory function of technical inspection, testing and certification of electrical materials in the NESI.
