Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, NERC, and the Office of the National Security Adviser, ONSA, are strengthening their collaboration and enhancing the security of infrastructure within the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI.
They pledged the collaboration as the management of NERC hosted a delegation from the Office of the National Security Adviser on a courtesy visit aimed at strengthening the inter-agency collaboration.
Welcoming the delegation, NERC Chairman, Musiliu Oseni, commended ONSA for its critical role in safeguarding national power assets and emphasized the importance of sustained collaboration in addressing the rising cases of vandalism affecting electricity infrastructure across the country.
He noted that stronger synergy between NERC and ONSA is essential to protecting critical electricity assets and improving the reliability of power supply nationwide.
In his remarks, the Director of Critical National Assets and Infrastructure Protection at ONSA, AVM Enebong Effiom, reiterated the need for closer cooperation in securing assets within the power sector. He noted that protecting assets within the power sector requires continuous information sharing and joint operational planning between regulators, security agencies, and industry operators.
Key highlights from the meeting include:
key highlights from the meeting included: Establishment of a joint stakeholders’ forum to combat vandalism; Development of a shared database of assets, vandalism incidents, and infraction reports to assess threat levels; and Creation of a reporting platform to enable timely incident reporting, faster arrests, and prosecution of criminal elements
Both agencies expressed readiness to follow up on the agreed steps to strengthen the response to vandalism and to involve relevant stakeholders across government and industry to ensure the measures translate into improved security and more reliable electricity for consumers.
