14 February 2014, Abuja – Stakeholders in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) have described the National Content Development regulation as the surest way of enterprise development in the power sector.
They made the appraisal Thursday during the public hearing organised by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) on the draft National Content Development regulation and the Enforcement Regulations at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja.
NERC chairman, Dr Sam Amadi said the enforcement regulations will ensure that processes are followed by the commission to enable compliance by the new owners of power utilities in the emerging privatised power sector.
The commissioner, Legal, Licensing and Enforcement, Dr. Steve Andzenge, said the national content regulation would strengthen the existing provisions in the industrial law while providing for the utilisation of local human resources.
Also speaking at the hearing, the Managing Director of the Ikeja Disco, Mr. Abiodun Ajifowobaje, noted that the national content rule will only succeed if the rules are strictly adhered to.
He noted that no defaulter of the local content in the oil and gas sector has ever been taken to court for sanction. “That should be guarded against in the power sector,” he said.
A staff of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Engr. Mike Ezedinma, said local content regulation has been successful in some sectors and hoped that the success would be replicated in Nigeria.
He called on government to encourage indigenous power sector equipment manufacturing in the country as it will go a long way to improve economies of scale while reducing the import duty waivers which have not been properly checked in the past.
– Daily Trust
