By Idowu Oyebanjo
One of
the myriads of problems bedevilling the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry is
the dearth of knowledge of Power Systems in Nigeria and unfortunately worldwide.
Having an efficient and reliable Power System requires dedication and hard
work. To this end, there must be a clear focus on recruiting, training, and
keeping the workforce for today and tomorrow. There is also the risk that
developed countries will poach our Engineers once they have been trained,
attracting them to say the least, with offers of citizenship in "greener
pastures". Hence, a well articulated and constructive approach is required
to ensure we meet this challenge and keep a sufficient level of expertise
adequate for the survival of the Power Industry in Nigeria ! How can this be done?
*Buhari
The
foremost requirement is a regulation backed by law to ensure that various
enablers are in place to support the deliberate development and optimal
utilization of Nigerian human resources for the provision of electricity services in the Power Industry.
The emphasis should be on ensuring the active participation and growth of the
Nigerian Industry and citizenry in the various services and activities that
will be witnessed as Nigeria
rebuilds her Power Network and Infrastructure. I say active here because lazy,
selfish and myopic investors will partner technical companies from the
developed economies who, for many good reasons, will prefer to carry out the
actual design, fabrication, manufacturing and testing of equipment from their
overseas offices and locations. This will create jobs and opportunities
overseas and add little to our subject matter. With foot on the ground,
business economics will prevail and within a reasonable period of time, so many
companies will shift base to Nigeria
to carry out these activities and more. Of course some balance is required here
as the intention is not to stifle the development of the Power Industry and
this is why those who understand the business of Electricity Generation,
Transmission, Distribution and Supply are required to manage the process. In
addition, there is need to track, monitor, review and measure the development
of this objective at every stage. Statistical methods showing status quo ante
and progress in the many areas is a must.
In view
of the dearth of Knowledge of Power Systems in-country, the new owners of the
Nigerian Power Assets, their technical consultants and Nigerian Professionals
home and abroad should be asked to submit a list of the activities that they
believe would be carried out in the short and long-term in the Power Industry.
They should equally state those activities they would be more likely to provide
services for pre-qualification and assessment of their capabilities or otherwise,
to acceptable international standards. This should form a database akin to the
Joint Qualification System (JQS) in use in the Oil and Gas Industry. The
Nigerian Content Division of NNPC could be approached for help in this area.