…Sets up panel to review safety code
Oscarline Onwuemenyi 17 August 2015, Sweetcrude, Abuja – The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, has raised the alarm over what it termed the recent upsurge in the number of accidents and deaths from electricity installations across the country.
To this extent, the Commission has set up a twelve member panel to review the safety code governing the electricity supply industry.
The members were drawn from generation, transmission, distribution as well consumer groups representatives.
Speaking at the panel’s inauguration in Abuja, NERC Chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi, described electricity consumption per capita as one of the indices used to assess the development of any country, thus the importance of the safety code review panel.
Amadi explained that “the code has provided that a health and safety code review panel consisting of qualified industry health, safety and environment shall be constituted to take on the function of reviewing, monitoring and complementing the code as part of the reforms within the electricity industry in Nigeria.’’
Speaking in the same vein, the Commissioner, Engineering Standard and Safety, Dr. Abba Ibrahim, noted that the increasing number of electricity accidents recorded in the past few years across the country has given the Commission cause for worry.
According to him, “We note with regret the recent upsurge in these avoidable accidents and fatalities, and the Commission is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that electricity installations across the country are designed in such a way as to drastically reduce such occurrences.”
He added that NERC would equally carry out sensitisation on the dangers of vandalism and tampering with power installations to members of the public in order to reduce electricity accidents.
He said that the setting up of the panel is meant to ensure high standard in the industry that would produce best practice, which makes it very imperative for them to be focused.