Dr Mohammed Sani Haruna urges NERC’s local content law implementation

 

The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Dr  Mohammed Sani Haruna, has urged the full implementation of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) local content regulation.


He commended the commission for issuing new regulations on local content development for the power sector.
              In a statement in Abuja, Engr. Haruna said the local content law would encourage organisations such as NASENI to become major players in the power sector.
NASENI, he said, had the technology and production capacities for solar energy in Nigeria, regretting,
however, that low patronage by government ministries, departments, agencies (MDAs) and Nigerians in general had led to a glut.
He said:  “Available data shows that 60 per cent of Nigerians living in rural communities do not have access to the National grid, but with full patronage of NASENI 7.5megawatt solar panel which has local content, epileptic power generation in the country will become a thing of the past.

In view of the abundance of sunshine all year round and the location of the country within the tropical region and the characteristic isolated pattern of human settlement, he noted that solar technology was particularly well suited for use in Nigeria and charged NERC to ensure full implementation of local contentm in the power sector.
The NASENI Chief said the section of the new law on contracts/procurement gave a lot of hope to local producers.
Making reference to the Regulation, he quoted:  “All licenses shall give first consideration for goods made in Nigeria and services provided by Nigerian firms in award of contracts. All operators and project promoters shall consider Nigerian content when evaluating any bid at commercial stage and the bid containing the highest level of Nigerian content shall be selected.