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Tag: Peter Ewesor

  • Ogun community gives FG condition relocating from power line

    …as NEMSA insists government has compensated residents

    Iperun district in Ogun State has given the Federal Government conditions for relocating from power line, in accordance with the right of way policy of the government. 

    The residents have told the government that although their lives and property are under threat from the hazards of the high tension, the only condition that they would relocating from their present abode is if the government resettles them. 

    They predicated their reason on the fact that their houses that were built in 1957 to 1958 predated the power line. 

    Already the electricity Distribution Company (DisCo) has disconnected the houses form power supply while the Federal Government is liaising with the state governments to clear all structure on right of way. 

    This was aired in the Service and Safety Half Hour on Radio Nigeria, sponsored by the Nigeria Electricity Management Service Agency (NEMSA), which The Nation monitored at the weekend. 

    Whereas the agency’s Managing Director, Engr. Peter Ewesor insisted that the Federal Government has already compensated the residents in the past, the residents said that they were only given N33,000 in 2015 for inconveniences, and that it was too meager to be called a compensation. 

    Ewesor warned that “it is not sufficient to say that I don’t have the money to build the kind of house I built. But I will tell you one thing: all structures that are compensated under the right of way are compensated commensurately to what you already have where the line is being built. So, as I am telling them is that it is better to leave the line, stay a live so that you can do better things.” 

    Speaking, Ewesor, who is the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, on safety ground said that “the advice I have been giving to them is that some of them should remember that there are people who are actually not under the line that had the misfortune of fire and all their property have been raised down. They have the life to start a new life because it is better for someone to lose his property than for him to lose his own life.”

    Read Also: 2019: Can Ogun APC mend its fences?

    The Chief Executive Officer noted that the residents on the power line are exposing their health to the radiation from the electricity, which he said could destroy the body cells to the extent that they would not function effectively. 

    77-year-old Ahmed Adesina of 19, Agabra Street, Iperun, said that “my house has been there before the power line. So, my house is not good to be on the power line. They (government) should help us to build house for us to relocate all of us. We are ready to move if the government is ready to help us like what they did in Abeokuta.” 

    Another resident, Tope Otaiku of 12 Dabira Street, Iperun, said that this our house has been here since 1957. Our father who built it is dead and we cannot afford to build a new house. Our request is for government to resettle us.”

    Makale Mayodele of Dabra Estate accepted that he has been under the transmission line since 1957. 

    He stressed that in 1958, the “power line met us here. Those workers (electricity employees were living in our house. They were putting their equipment in our house. So we didn’t know that it was something that could be dangerous to our lives. From 60s to 70s nobody told us that it could be dangerous to us. In 1988, the government gave us money for inconveniencing us. It was not for compensation for demolition. That money was N33,000 in 2015.”  

  • Community gives FG condition relocating from power line

    …as NEMSA insists government has compensated residents

     

    Iperun district in Ogun State has given the Federal Government conditions for relocating from power line, in accordance with the right of way policy of the government.

    The residents have told the government that although their lives and property are under threat from the hazards of the high tension, the only condition that they would relocate from their present abode is if the government resettles them.

    They predicated their reason on the fact that their houses that were built in 1957 to 1958 predated the power line.

    Already the electricity Distribution Company (DisCo) has disconnected the houses from power supply while the Federal Government is liaising with the state governments to clear all structure on right of way.

    This was aired in the Service and Safety Half Hour on Radio Nigeria, sponsored by the Nigeria Electricity Management Service Agency (NEMSA), which The Nation monitored at the weekend.

    Whereas the agency’s Managing Director, Engr. Peter Ewesor insisted that the Federal Government has already compensated the residents in the past, the residents said that they were only given N33,000 in 2015 for inconveniences, and that it was too meager to be called a compensation.

    Ewesor warned that “it is not sufficient to say that I don’t have the money to build the kind of house I built. But I will tell you one thing: all structures that are compensated under the right of way are compensated commensurately to what you already have where the line is being built. So, as I am telling them is that it is better to leave the line, stay a live so that you can do better things.”

    Read Also: EFCC operatives trail Fayose

    Speaking, Ewesor, who is the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, on safety ground said that “the advice I have been giving to them is that some of them should remember that there are people who are actually not under the line that had the misfortune of fire and all their property have been raised down. They have the life to start a new life because it is better for someone to lose his property than for him to lose his own life.”

    The Chief Executive Officer noted that the residents on the power line are exposing their health to the radiation from the electricity, which he said could destroy the body cells to the extent that they would not function effectively.

    77-year-old Ahmed Adesina of 19, Agabra Street, Iperun, said that “my house has been there before the power line. So, my house is not good to be on the power line. They (government) should help us to build house for us to relocate all of us. We are ready to move if the government is ready to help us like what they did in Abeokuta.”

    Another resident, Tope Otaiku of 12 Dabira Street, Iperun, said that “our house has been here since 1957. Our father who built it is dead and we cannot afford to build a new house. Our request is for government to resettle us.”

    Makale Mayodele of Dabra Estate accepted that he has been under the transmission line since 1957.

    He stressed that in 1958, the “power line met us here. Those workers (electricity employees were living in our house. They were putting their equipment in our house. So we didn’t know that it was something that could be dangerous to our lives. From 60s to 70s nobody told us that it could be dangerous to us. In 1988, the government gave us money for inconveniencing us. It was not for compensation for demolition. That money was N33,000 in 2015.“

  • NEMSA to Customers: Inform us on Meters without seals

    … Achieves 50% rise in  ease of doing business 

    The Managing Director, Nigeria Electricity Management Service Agency (NEMSA), Engr. Peter Ewesor on Wednesday urged electricity customers to inform the agency on any meter without the agency’s seal.

    He spoke after the inauguration of Servicom Unit of the agency in Abuja.

    His words: “When this seal is not there, what you now need is to follow up and report to NEMSA so that NEMSA can go there and find out what kind of meter it is.

    “We still carry out what we call on sight test for the meter to find out whether it meets the required accuracy and the required technical standards and specifications in line with the metering codes of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission has put in place to guide the manufacturing and supply.

    Ewesor, who is also the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, insisted that meters that have no NEMSA certification seals are fake.

    Asked whether meters without the agency’s seals are fake, Ewesor said “Of course, it is fake if it doesn’t have a seal.”

    He explained that meters are expected to go through required routine tests to have certification having met environmental conditions and specifications to localize them for usage in Nigeria.

    Read Also: NEMSA boss advises Nigerians to conserve energy

    The Managing Director noted that all agencies in the country must retool the way they deliver services.

    He revealed that NEMSA has succeeded in improving on the time it takes to deliver service by 50%.

    He said that from the time of application for inspection to the time of certification, that used to take 14 days to achieve now takes only seven days.

    Meanwhile, the National Coordinator/ CEO of SERVICOM, Mrs. Nnena Akajemeli tasked NEMSA on ensuring the reduction of service failure.

    She asked the agency to work out innovative ways of serving the electricity customers in order to ensure value for money.

    She also tasked NEMSA on the simplification of the guide and enlightenment campaign of the agency for the understanding of illiterate electricity consumers.

    Continuing, she told Ewesor that “with this you are going to have better reports. You are going to have feedbacks. Things that you would not have seen will be brought to your notice. So, insist they bring the reports to you because customers are looking up to you.”

  • Why electricity meters are running faster – FG

    Owing to complaints that electricity meters are now running faster, the Nigeria Electricity Management Service Agency (NEMSA) has observed that power supply in the country has increase. 

    According to its Managing Director, Engr. Peter Ewesor, the manner of meter installation also determine its functionality. 

    Speaking during the opening ceremony of the specialized technical training for NEMSA’s Engineers and Technical officers holding at NAPTIN, Abuja, he pointed out that lack of good earthing could make a meter read a fault as a load for the consumer to pay more than what he consumes. 

    He said “metering is not just metering in isolation but because they have bad installation in their house, no good earthing, when there is a fault, instead of the fault going to the ground, the meter will be reading it as a load. You will be paying more than what you are consuming.”

    The Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation said “people are complaining that their meters are running, they have forgotten that power supply has increased. If you were using power only three hours before, now you have power for six hours or 15 hours it is a multiplication of the number of hours you were using.” 

    Read Also: Electricity more expensive in West Africa -WAPP

    Ewesor added that some customers meters are reading their generators plant loads because of bad installation.

    He said because of the anticipation of excessive supply of meters into the country, owing to the Meter Asset Provider (MAP) regulation of the Nigeria Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) the agency has already started remodeling and equipping its meter test stations in Kaduna to test the meters. 

    On the scope of the training, he said that training would be for two weeks, covering “all array of testing techniques, report writing, syndicate analysis and interpretation of the results they have carried out.” 

    Ewesor noted that he training would expose the staff and improve their skills sine it would be interactive. The agency had already trained 87 participants on the same courses in Lagos while 55 were undergoing training in Abuja, he said.

    According to him, the first group was that of younger engineers while the Abuja’s consisted of senior engineers that are to carry out inspection of all categories of electric installation from generation, distribution to transmission.

  • NEMSA boss advises Nigerians to conserve energy

    NEMSA boss advises Nigerians to conserve energy

    Mr Peter Ewesor, Managing Director, Nigerian Electricity Service Agency ( NEMSA ), has advised Nigerians to learn how to conserve energy in their homes to minimise their electricity bills.

    Ewesor, the Chief Electrical Inspector of the Federation, gave this advice on Tuesday in an interview in Lagos.

    He said some electricity consumers who blamed their meters when they overused electricity should stop doing that.

    According to him, meters being installed by Distribution Companies (DISCOs) passed accuracy and compatibility tests administered by NEMSA before installation.

    The managing director said that the agency had facilities to carry out required tests to declare that a meter was fit and proper for use in Nigeria.

    “When there are complains of meter overrunning by consumers, the agency sends its officials out to verify such complaints.

    “After installation, we deploy our men to go out there and check if the installations are properly done. When it is wrongly connected, the meters will read wrongly.

    Read also: Why we should invest in solar energy

    “We do follow up check to make sure that meters installed in the country are certified,” he said

    Ewesor said some consumers who had been on five hours electricity supply before now,have had their supply increased to 10 to 18 hours daily due to increase in power generation.

    “Since power supply has increased, consumers have to pay more for the supply.

    “Maybe a consumer who was paying N3,000 monthly before now, has to triple the payment.

    “But Nigeria consumers will still want to pay the same amount he used to pay when the power generation was low; this is wrong calculation.

    “This is why every consumer has to do energy management or conservation in his house when electricity supply has improved so that he or she can pay less,” he said.

    He said the test stations in NEMSA in Lagos, Kaduna and Port Harcourt ensured that meters deployed to homes and companies by DISCOs met requirements.

    The managing director said however that any installer found wanting in the discharge of his duty would forfeit his certificate.

    NAN

  • EMS, others collaborate to tackle counterfeit power materials, equipment

    EMS, others collaborate to tackle counterfeit power materials, equipment

    TO ensure compliance with the use of standard materials and equipment in the electricity industry, the Electricity Management Services Limited (EMS), the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) and the Central Power Research Institute (CPRI), India, have stepped up collaboration.

    The Managing Director/Chief Executive, EMS, Peter Ewesor, who was on a sensitisation and inspection visit to some electrical materials and equipment manufacturing firms in Lagos, told The Nation that such deal had become imperative to rid the country of substandard electrical equipment.

    Ewesor and his team visited four pole manufacturing firms – Bahamas Associate Limited at Odogunyan, Ikorodu; Datamax Nigeria Limited, Ijede, Ikorodu; Ucak Nigeria Limited, Lekki; Brunelli Group of Companies, Orile-Iganmu; Meter test station, Oshodi and two electricity distribution companies – Ikeja and Eko.

    He said: “EMS is set to tackle materials and equipment that are being used that are not of the right quality. For instance, electricity conductors that are of lower standard and cannot deliver the power intended to deliver.

    “We visited some manufacturers of electrical materials and equipment including electric pole manufacturers to sensitise them because we have national electric concrete pole directory, which we try to revalidate. The directory was approved and published in 2010 and after the revalidation, we expect the pole manufacturers to check the directory and ensure they manufacture their poles in line with approved standards. In ensuring compliance, we visit their sites to see what they do.

    “We also visited Ikeja and Eko Electricity Distribution Companies to let them know where to make improvements because by the policy of the government, we will be handling investigation of electrical accidents and proffer solutions to prevent future occurrences, provide technical support and applied services, which are commercial in nature and statutory inspection and certification.”

    Ewesor said he recognised the issue of technical gap and technical regulations but noted that the gap do exist because, industry is coming from government regulated environment to an independent regulator. He said the meter test station is in working condition but promised that it would be upgraded.

    He said: “On the meter test station, it is in working condition and I can actually prove the efficacy of any meter that is coming into the country. We are going to modernise the place, check the equipment and the accuracy levels that have been set. The obsolete equipment will be replaced and we are forming collaboration with the CPRI of India.

     

    “We will not operate as a public owned and controlled organisation. We will meet some international certification and in doing that, we have commenced collaboration with SON We will ensure that we bring that meter test station to a level that can compare and compete with any other laboratory or meter test stations in any part of the world. If our meters are not well checked, we may be having some issues. We will build capacity and bring in credibility into our operation.”

    He advised pole manufacturers to put finishing touches to their equipment where necessary explaining that the agency is not set out close anybody’s shop but to encourage them to do the right thing and make sure their poles come out as required in terms of specifications and standards.

    “We want to see how we will affect the operations of the distribution companies, and other players in the industry, work together to ensure that they have stable network, quality equipment for use so that people will have reliable power supply in their homes,” he said.