Manufacturers caution FG against allowing importation of electricity meters

The Association of Meter Manufacturers and Assemblers Nigeria (AMMON) has advised the Federal Government to halt attempts by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) to allow foreign campaigns to bid for the manufacturing of electricity meters in the country.

AMMON Secretary Durosola Omogbenigun, at a news conference in Abuja, also advised the federal government not to use the World Bank's 155 million dollar loan for the importation of electricity meters into the country.

Supreme News reports that the project is aimed at closing the metering gap in Nigeria.

Omogbenigun alleged that the evaluation criteria opening the bid to foreign manufacturers were designed to eliminate Nigerian meter manufacturers.

“ Consequently, indigenous manufacturers have insisted that implementing the policy will mean taking away Nigerian jobs and depriving the economy of the benefits the loan was meant to bring,” he said.

Omogbenigun said that the fund should rather be made available to local meter manufacturers who had the capacity to produce the meters.

He stated that granting foreign companies the license to bring in fully built meters at a zero import duty would cripple the sector.

“We found out that the evaluation criteria by way of turnover, cash flow, and experience for the bid seem to be designed to eliminate the local manufacturers.

“Our interest today is to quickly state that this World Bank project is inimical to the growth of the manufacturing sector and the progress that has been made in the local content policy, as stated in Executive Order 003 of 2017.

“It also negates the gains that have been achieved in backward integration, technology transfer, and employment within the industry,” Omogbenigun said.

The treasurer of the association, Mr. Ifeanyi Okeke, also said that local meter manufacturers had the capacity to meet the 1.2 million metering targets of the World Bank loan.

Okeke, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Holley Metering Limited, urged the federal government to ensure that the fund was used to boost Nigeria’s economy and job creation.

“We are not against World Bank-funded projects, but the fund should be channeled in such a way that it will catalyze employment for Nigerians,” he said.

Supreme News recalls that TCN had, in a tender publication, unveiled requirements for bidders to apply for the World Bank’s 155 projects under the Nigeria Distribution Sector Recovery Programme (DISREP).

TCN had, in the tender publication, unveiled stringent requirements before a vendor could access the loan, which effectively ruled out local manufacturers.

Supreme News reports that TCN’s plan is aimed at bridging the over eight million metering gaps in the Nigerian electricity market.