The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) has stated that the discovery of faulty connections on networks of all the electricity distribution companies in the country led to a directive to fix them in two months.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Office of NEMSA, Aliyu Tukur Tahir, during the celebration of the customers’ week said failure to adhere to this directive will result in sanctions and fines.
Tahir stated that the inability for DisCos to maintain good connections in their networks led to the electrocution of some people in Calabar in 2023.
Tahir noted that the incident prompted an investigation, which revealed that the practice is across the distribution networks of DisCos.
“When we look at the networks generally, we discovered that there are similar networks across the country so what we did was to go back to the drawing board and issue a general enforcement directive to all the utility companies in the country. They were given two months to make sure that all those areas that were identified in the directive are effectively carried out. So the two month is ending next week. Our officers are already on ground, they will swing into action and monitor those places for necessary action.”
He also called on electricity consumers to patronise certified electricians when carrying out installations in their properties.
He said this will enable them to be tracked when there are any safety issues related to their work.
“To effectively mitigate this hazard, we have technical standards and these are the ones that will ensure they are enforced. The first thing to do is to ensure that your electric installation is carried out by a certified personnel. This is the person that is certified and can be traced when there are any issues.”
