Rahma Ahmed
By Ahmed Rahma
A local manufacturer of prepaid meters for electricity, Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company Limited (MEMMCOL) has held a training programme for graduates in Nigeria.
The firm said this was part of its efforts to address the issue of youth unemployment in the country. It was gathered that the training was free with participants drawn from the six geo-political zones of the nation.
MEMMCOL prides itself as the first indigenous company to deploy, install and manage prepayment metering solutions for the power sector in Nigeria.
The selected graduates were trained on metering technology through Momas Metering School and in the words of the Chairman of MEMMCOL, Mr Kola Balogun, “This is our own way of contributing our quota to ensure that the initiative is successful.”
He explained that, “We have decided to train selected number of graduates across all the six geopolitical zones in the country on metering technology through our Momas Metering School for free.”
Mr Balogun said there was an urgent need to train more Nigerians on meter installation to complement government’s efforts towards bridging the metering gap in the power sector.
“In addition to the training, we shall provide the trainees with kits; these will contain all the relevant tools for electricity meter installation. There will be enough jobs for the youths to do and we would also engage them in the execution of some of our projects,” he stated.
The permanent secretary of Federal Ministry of Power, Mr Chinyeaka Ohaa, who lauded Mr Balogun for the initiative, stated that the government remains committed to encouraging local meter manufacturing, adding that, “If you look at the new power policy, we say that 30 per cent of meters should have local content.”
The senior government official said further that the training programme would help to empower the participants and create many jobs in the country.
The federal government had launched an initiative to accelerate prepaid meter rollout in the power sector, with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) funding the provision of six million meters to energy consumers in Nigeria for free.
