Fashola lauds JED, tasks other Disco’s to perform better

Minister of Power works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, yesterday said that the Jos Electricity Distribution Company has performed above average by striving to satisfy customers through providing best technology for metering.

Fashola, stated this in Jos, during a one-day stakeholders forum of the National Power Sector held in Jos, the Plateau state capital, where he also tasked other DISCO’s to step up their game to meet the challenges faced by consumers of electricity in the country.

Delivering his address, he recalled that Nigerians have expressed dissatisfaction of over billing and poor electricity supply, urging all discos to live up to expectation to serve customers better.

At the end of the one-day meeting, a communique was issued highlighting highlighting various challenges faced by consumers and electricity companies, with solutions reached in addressing the challenges.

However, on the issue of the electrocution of some persons at a football viewing center in Calabar recently, the Minister expressed his sympathy to their families, saying that the incident was man-made and unavoidable if the electricity distribution company in Cross Rivers State had followed adhered to the laws and regulations that sets it up.

His words: “My sympathy and that of the electricity industry represented by the participants at this meeting, goes to the families of our brothers and sisters who were victims of the unfortunate electrocution accident in Cross River state.

“While we pray for the full recovery of the survivors who suffered various forms of injuries, we pray for the peaceful repose of the souls of the departed.

“Whilst the accident is regrettable and the consequences very saddening, they were clearly man-made and avoidable, and if we must learn any lessons from the accident, it is to honestly and truthfully admit that it occurred as a result of non-compliance with laws and regulation; and if there is a time to learn the lesson, there can be no more auspicious moment than now.

“Yes, I know that there are difficult challenges and people are struggling to eke out a living. But every business set up in a place of danger is a threat to life,that ultimately defeats the essence of survival.

“We must admit as a People that the time to stop cutting corners and violating regulations has come upon us, and the time to change those non-compliant conduct is now, for our own long term benefit.

“This is because the situation in Calabar, where a building was located under or close to an electricity line, exists in almost all cities in Nigeria and they are all accidents waiting to happen unless we prevent them.

“The burden of preventing them, rests with all of us – government and the governed.

TCN, the DISCO’s and NEMSA, all have roles to play and their success however will depend on the will, support and collaboration of state governments who have the responsibility for granting construction permits and removing illegal structures.

“For the information of the general public and the benefit of the state planning authorities, the applicable regulations for set back and approval of structures are for the 330 KV lines, the set back is a total of 50 meters, that is 25 meters on both sides from the centre of the line,also For the 132 KV the set back is a total of 30 meters, that is 15 meters on both sides from the centre of the line, for the 33 KV lines which come close to our homes the buildings should observe at least 3.5 meters from the closest line and For the 11 KV lines, it is at least a 3-meter set back,also For 415 volt lines it is 1.5 meters,” he said.

Fashola also said that underground cables should be buried at least three meters below the ground surface.

“My response is that we need to keep people alive and we also need the electricity to improve our lives, therefore logic dictates that it is those non-compliant structures that must give way to save lives and to keep electricity on.

“It is this logic that ensures there will be no repeat of the Calabar incident and that those who lost their lives would not have done so in vain,” he emphasized.