Politics
Power: NEMSA, NERC Strengthen Collaboration To Enhance Safety Oversight
The Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency and the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission have strengthened collaboration to enhance safety oversight, regulatory compliance, and technical standardization across the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI).
This commitment was reinforced during a strategic courtesy visit by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of NEMSA, Engr. Olusegun Adesayo, to the leadership of NERC in Abuja.
In a statement on Sunday by the Head Public Affairs, NEMSA, Ama Umoren, said the high-level engagement centred on deepening cooperation in critical areas including electrical safety enforcement, technical inspection, certification of installations, metering compliance, infrastructure monitoring, and coordinated regulatory oversight across the generation, transmission, distribution, and end-user segments of the power value chain.
Speaking during the visit, the MD/CEO of NEMSA, Engr. Adesayo, emphasized that stronger synergy between both institutions is essential to addressing persistent safety challenges within the sector, including electrical accidents, substandard installations, equipment failures, and non-compliance with approved technical regulations.
According to him, NEMSA’s statutory mandate in the inspection, testing, and certification of electrical installations, electricity meters, instruments, and equipment directly complements NERC’s regulatory responsibilities in ensuring a safe, reliable, and sustainable electricity supply nationwide.
“Closer institutional collaboration between NEMSA and NERC is critical to strengthening safety compliance, improving operational efficiency, and ensuring that the Nigerian power sector continues to operate in accordance with established technical standards and global best practices,” he stated.
Engr. Adesayo further stressed the need for harmonized data management, coordinated incident investigations, joint compliance monitoring, and structured information-sharing mechanisms that will support evidence-based regulatory actions and proactive enforcement.
In his response, the Chairman of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, Dr. Musiliu Olalekan Oseni, welcomed the initiative and reaffirmed the Commission’s readiness to work closely with NEMSA in advancing sector reforms, strengthening safety enforcement, and improving overall sector performance.
He noted that the ongoing reforms in Nigeria’s electricity supply industry, particularly the decentralization of regulatory responsibilities to sub-national entities under the Electricity Act, make inter-agency coordination even more imperative to maintaining uniform technical standards across the country.
The Commission also highlighted the urgent need for stronger enforcement against the proliferation of substandard electrical materials and unsafe installations, noting that effective standardization remains fundamental to safeguarding lives, protecting infrastructure, and sustaining investor confidence in the power sector.
Both agencies agreed to institutionalize stronger operational collaboration through technical working groups, joint inspection frameworks, regular strategic engagements, and coordinated compliance enforcement mechanisms.
The meeting marks a renewed commitment by NEMSA and NERC to work in closer partnership toward building a safer, more efficient, and globally competitive Nigerian electricity industry.
