By Stella Odueme
The President of the Chartered Institute of Power Engineers of Nigeria (CIPEN), Engr Israel Esehoghene Abraham has said that his group will tackle inferior cables in circulation in the Nigerian market.
Speaking in an interview with The Authority, he said that as a statutory regulatory body, CIPEN will address quackery in the sector.
“With the legal backing, CIPEN is now a professional institute for all power engineering practitioners in Nigeria.
He said his body will partner relevant government agencies to address the use of substandard materials in the manufacturing of electric cables and transformers.
“From this day forth, the success and failure of whatever happens in the power sector now rests on our shoulders. We will work with the Standard Organisation of Nigeria (Son) to tackle the issues of inferior cables and wires in circulation.
“Nobody is going to be a manufacturer of cables and transformers without being a part of us. If you are an investor, you have to invest through the proper channel by engaging practitioners because cable manufacturing requires some technicality and specifications so that that cable does not burn or kill other people in the process of wiring it in your house”, @ Abraham noted.
He acknowledged that there has been a gap in the power sector in that practitioners who are supposed to man the affairs of the sector are not fully recognised by law.
“So now the government has finally given a task approval by law to say these are the professionals. With this everyone in Nigeria who is going to practice power engineering must have a license by this body, if you are not licensed, you are a quark.
“We are already taking off, our bill does not need the Federal Governmnt support anyways. We are self regulating, we are funding our activities by ourselves.
“It is because of issues of local content that we say no to what has been going on, we are not satisfied and that is why we are coming on board because we have too many people who are not practitioners yet they have the job just because they have one political backing or friend somewhere.
“Not that such cannot happen but majority should be practitioners because the situation whereby one gets a contract and you don’t know what to do and you get just anybody to do it, the job will be messed up and nobody is taking responsibility,” he maintained.
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