The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency has commenced a two-week training programme for 40 engineers in its employ to improve their capacity to work on meters.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NEMSA, Mr Peter Ewesor, said at the inauguration of the programme in Lagos that the training was organised in conjunction with a German meter calibration and repair institute, Zera, and the National Power Training Institute of Nigeria.
He said participants were selected from Lagos, Kaduna and Port Harcourt, adding that the programme would boost their capacity to carry out operation and maintenance of test equipment, troubleshooting and calibration of electricity meter test instruments.
Ewesor said, “We are doing this because we want our people to be on top of the game, because without adequate knowledge, they will not be able to deliver. We are here to ensure that our staff can do some of the activities we engage expatriates to do for us and this is why we brought experts from Zera to train our people.
“With this exercise, we have been able to bring up equipment that has been down for two years and this goes to show that we can now increase the quantity of meters we can test in a day. The impact it will have in the industry is that it would increase the efficiency and volume of meters we can test in a day.”
The Director-General, NAPIN, Mr Ahmed Nagode, lauded the initiative, saying that it would help build a very efficient workforce.
“This is a very laudable effort from NEMSA because it will ensure we build a very efficient workforce to really do the testing and ensure that the meters we use are optimally functional and ensure safety.
“We have been working with NEMSA to build human capital for the sector while also ensuring that we get the right skills set in order for the sector to deliver on its mandate,” he added.
He said the institute had trained about 600 personnel of power firms with plans underway to train another 150 workers to build efficient and effective workforce for the power sector.
