Success Nwogu 
MEMMCOL
The Chief Executive Officer, Momas Electricity Meters Manufacturing Company Limited (MEMMCOL), Engineer Kola Balogun, said indigenous manufacturers had intensified their efforts to improve on their competencies, capacities and product quality, adding that they were formidable to sufficiently address the metering needs of the country and even produce for exports. He said that in the past, meters were always imported but that indigenous meter manufacturing companies had braced to the challenge, adding that they needed to be encouraged. He spoke when the Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, visited the company.
Balogun said: “I want to appreciate the minister’s effort to re-confirm the belief in the local capability and do the full inspection of our facility. He has confirmed that we have what it takes to make Nigeria proud in terms of manufacturing meters and we can meet our local needs in terms of volume. “We want reassurance of patronizing of indigenous local manufacturers and that is the commitment he has made that he is going to patronize us. We need more of such reassurance, not by promising but by action, make funds available for us to be able to buy raw materials and be able to export if possible because we can take advantage of the new African doctrine of export.
“So we can export to all parts of Africa. We design from scratch and that capability is not in doubt because we comply with all the various standards that Nigeria has set and the global best practices. “Virtually all the discos are our partners. Outside Nigeria we have supplied meters to Liberia, Sierra Leone etc. But the volume Nigeria needs surpasses any volume in Africa. So the local patronage is very much needed for us to be able to meet up with the investment threshold that we have done in the country today.” He added: “I took it upon myself and others to introduce prepaid meter to the sector. “We were importing meters from South Africa and South Africans were milking Nigeria and making so much money and opened letters of credit to them and they were happy. I took upon myself and we challenged the odds.
To the glory of God, we are the only original equipment manufacturer (OEM) in the country; that is, we design from the scratch. “Designing from scratch is an embedded conceptualization engineering. If you can design, there is nothing you can not do. That is the capability that we have brought to the country. It is now left for the country to optimize that capability, to say this is what we can do, this is how we can extend this capability to ensure that Nigeria is on the trajectory of developing when it comes to digital engineering. If you can do embedded design, there is nothing that you can not do.”
IKEDC
The Chief Executive Officer of Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company (IKEDC), Folake Soetan, said the disco had made significant improvement in investment and other parameters and upgraded its infrastructure and facilities. She said that as at 2015, the total capital expenditures (CAPEX) of the disco was N5 billion but in 2023 it had grown to N50.58billion since takeover. She also said that there were 700,000 registered customers in 2015 but that the number has risen to 1 million in 2023; 30,000 smart meters in 2015 and 800,000 meters installed across the network in 2023. She stated that its collection average in 2015 was N3.75 billion but N18.32 billion in 2023.
She added that the disco as at 2023 had six business units, 54 undertakings, 76 per cent metering density, 1,257 sq.km network coverage area, 6,528.48MVA installed distribution capacity, 3,608 circuit/Km as length of distribution lines, 64 injection substations, 19,572 transformers, 96 no of 33kv feeders, and 297 no of 11kv feeders. According to her, IE has developed a customer notification needed (CNN) initiative to provide real time information to customers on status of faults and outages; provided cashless payments channels, (8 payment channel platforms and 2,990 payment agents across the network. According to her, metering has been at the forefront of the business to drive down Aggregated Technical Commercial and Collection (ATC&C) losses across the network.
She also disclosed that IE had installed a queuing management system, (QMS) at walk-in locations for performance measurement of customer service staff and the center in general, improving turnaround time, workflow tracking and customer complaints resolution. She stated that there was continuous engagement with its customers through its various channels such as Live chat, WhatsApp BOT, Ie Mobile app, twitter as well as community engagements and public media.
Minister
The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, said there would be significant improvement in power services in Nigeria between the next three and six months. He expressed unhappiness over the current poor power supply and pleaded with Nigerians to be more patient. He spoke during his recent inspection visit to Ikeja Electric in Lagos. He decried the nefarious activities of vandals and lamented that their vandalism has caused the nation so much that culprits should be severely punished according to the law. Adelabu said: “Our target is to ensure that we are able to prove to Nigerians that this sector has the capacity to provide improved, uninterrupted reliable and functional electricity to consumers. Once you are able to do that you can start talking about what you do with the tariff. As it is now, until we improve the service quality, it will be difficult to talk about the tariff. But once you are able to show Nigerians that within a month, there is stability, across the bands, you now start talking of its sustainability. “We are going to start witnessing improved supply of electricity to our consumers. There is a lot of pressure on the existing transformers in terms of inadequacy of numbers and the age of these transformers but by introducing new ones, it will reduce that pressure. “Nigerian should exercise some patience. This thing has an incubation period but before long they will start seeing changes.
I am so confident about that. That they are complaining now is legitimate. They have the right to demand for good governance from the people they have put in power. The trust and the confidence they have that made them put us into power, they should maintain it for a while and they will see whether we are going to pay them back for now. “Withing the next three to six months, things will change significantly from the present. I can tell you that.” Adelabu harped on the need for continuous improvement in the power sector, noting that efficient and accessible electricity services were crucial for Nigeria’s industrial, economic growth and development. He cited global giants like Hyundai and American companies that leverage stable power sectors for success but compared Nigeria’s power generation capacity unsatisfactory to countries like Korea and China. The minister said it is imperative to prioritise baseload power generation before transitioning to cleaner energy sources.
Though he noted that there are challenges, he however said it is possible for the country to achieve substantial progress. Adelabu in a recent statement noted that there had been several complaints over poor power services recently. He, however, said the Ministry and other stakeholders in the power sector are focused and determined to address the knotty issues in the sector, including lack of investment, liquidity challenges, operational hurdles, infrastructural deficiencies, decay, human capacity limitations, and within the power sector. It could be recalled that the minister had, a few weeks after assuming office, promised gradual and consistent improvements in electricity supply in the country. He stated that Nigeria had a long-term energy expansion plan of 60,000 MW by 2060 and added that achieving a reliable, functional, affordable path to all Nigerians is not a task that is not possible. For him, it is quite possible to achieve it. Adelabu said: “We have a medium-term target of 30,000 MW by 2036. These are not targets that are not achievable. Like the informal markets, I just came back from South Korea to attend the ‘Just Energy Transition and Transformation Conference.’ As South Koreans, I tell you, they have an amazing story to tell. This was a country about less than 50 years ago.
They were not recipients of foreign aid. “Even Nigeria was sending food aid to South Korea during the war before the ceasefire of 1923. They were generating less than 4,000 MW of power. But today, a country that has a little less than 50 million population, generates well over 130,000 MW of power. It’s quite amazing. Not only generate, but they transmit, distribute, and distribute those types of aid to us. So who says 60,000 MW is not achievable in less than 40 years in Nigeria? “The collective effort of all of us is actually required for this. It is not just enough to generate power. As I’ve seen we are actually in a very good position given the kind of expression of interest to invest in Nigeria and generating companies and to achieve 30,000 MW by 2030 and 60,000 MW by 2060. But how do we get this to end users?” “The Nigerian government is actively advancing the power sector through various measures. With a $20 billion investment plan, new power plants and transmission lines are set to be established to boost power generation and grid stability.
Last Line
“That is why my tenure would focus on growing power generation to 20,000 megawatts in the next three years. But the target would be impossible without investments from all investors across the sector’s value chain. From the utilities to transmission and generation companies; everyone must be ready to invest to achieve the target.”
