Experts decry shortage of manpower to bridge metering gap

Tue, Oct 29, 2019
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Power

STAKEHOLDERS in the power sector have decried shortage of manpower needed to bridge the metering gap, which according to them stands at five million households.

The stakeholders disclosed this at the graduation ceremony of the second set of students from Momas Electrical Meters Manufacturing Companies Limited (MEMMCOL) Metering School in Lagos on Tuesday.

Mr Kola Balogun, Chairman of MEMMCOL said that inadequate manpower was one of several factors responsible for the widening metering gap in Nigeria.

Balogun said that the company had taken the responsibility to train young Nigerians in various aspects of the power sector value chain to address the gap in metering installation in Nigeria.

He said that the 25 students who graduated would boost installing capacity of the Meter Assets Providers (MAPs) scheme, adding that 50 students had also graduated in June 2019.

Balogun said : “There is a lot of manpower deficiency in the power sector and we realised that we have the opportunity to pass on skills we have acquired over 30 years now.

“Our objective is to maximise the opportunity we have in the metering subsection of the power sector value chain by providing adequate and competent training to young graduates, undergraduates and school certificate holders.

“This will be useful for the mass roll-out of meters under the government-backed MAP scheme.”

According to him, the training provides direct and indirect jobs to hundreds of youth who are being taken out of the street and engaged in productive activities.

“If the MAP scheme is well executed, we will need one million meter installers to install five million meters needed to fill the metering gap, ” he said.

He admitted that cost of training may discourage some youths from taking up the opportunity and therefore called on the government to intervene by sponsoring more persons to attend the training school.

“We are emphasising government intervention because most youths that are unemployed are struggling to pay for the training while many cannot afford the cost but are willing to learn.

“We are also using the opportunity of mass rollout scheme of MAP to engage the youths and take them off the street.

“Our training and the curriculum are endorsed by the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN) and Nigeria Society of Engineers (NSE).

“These bodies of engineers have come out with the scope of the curriculum and it was designed to accommodate everyone, irrespective of your background, either science or not.

” We are able to pass the practical knowledge to them and they are able to install meters,” he said.

In his remarks, Mr Ali Rabiu, the National President, COREN, expressed satisfaction with the quality of the training and the infrastructure put in place for the exercise.

“I realised that there are a lot aside the training being offered by the organisers. They are also manufacturing prepaid meters and security equipment and gadgets.

“The quality of their output is comparable with anywhere in the world.

“We have a responsibility as a council to develop and encourage national content in engineering and we will explore that aspect of law to see how we can support this laudable initiative.

“In terms of personnel needed to ensure successful implementation of MAP, I can say that we have them but we need more. And I believe MOMAS will help bridge that gap,” he said.

Mr Oluwo Abraham, a representative of the grandaunts, commended MEMMCOL’s initiative towards training young Nigerians on all aspects of the power sector value-chain.

Abraham, who was also the best graduating student, urged the  federal government to assist moreNigerians by sponsoring them for the training.(NAN)

– Oct 29, 2019 @ 17:39 GMT |

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