‘120 killed in electricity accidents last year,’ according to NERC
[su_dropcap style=”light”]N[/su_dropcap]o fewer than 120 deaths arising from accidents were recorded in the power sector in 2015, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has said. According to NERC, the sector also recorded 117 injuries during the period, as it decried the high number of casualties in the industry despite having trained engineers in the workforce.
The Manager, Statistics and Forecasting, NERC, Chigozie Azikiwe, said this on Wednesday while addressing stakeholders in the industry during a two-day meeting held at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja.
She stated that among the 120 cases, three of the deaths were recorded in a family, while about 14 others were recorded in a community.
Azikiwe expressed dissatisfaction with the number of deaths and injuries in the industry, stressing that it was alarming that many employees of the power companies were trained personnel.
The NERC manager also stated that the performance of the electricity distribution companies in 2015 was low and unimpressive, adding that many of the firms failed to comply with the order mandating them to submit their performance data to the commission.
She was particularly angry with the Transmission Company of Nigeria for not submitting its six months performance data to NERC, and declared that the firm would be sanctioned for this.
Azikiwe also stated that many electricity distribution companies were not submitting accurate data and this was affecting the performance of the industry.
She, therefore, urged the power firms to get quality structures in place to aid them access gainful information from the field, and regretted that some companies were submitting fictitious data to NERC.
The commission’s Head, Engineering Standards and Safety Department, Mr. Abdullahi Mohammed, further explained that the TCN failed to submit the mandatory operational report between January and June last year.
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