Vice President Kashim Shettima visited Anambra on Thursday, November 30, where he commissioned an electric energy meter manufacturing factory in Oraifite, Ekwusigo local government area of the state.
He also commissioned Ijele 93.1FM, housing units donated for widows, Sir Emeka Offor Foundation (SEOF) Touch-A-Life Housing Unit and Phase 3 of the Housing Scheme as well as the SEOF Social Investment Programme.
Inaugurating the factory, Shettima, said the firm, co-named Advanced Energy Management Solutions, would assist the federal government in its efforts at addressing power challenges in the country.
He acknowledged the electric meter shortage in the country, expressing optimism that the factory would help reduce the meter shortage gap.
He said: “We commend this initiative as we commission the factory to the glory of God and the use of humanity. This will help reduce the shortage gap of prepaid meters in the country.
“We believe that the establishment of the factory will help resolve the power supply challenges facing the country by addressing the critical issue of the very high metering gap among consumers.
“It is also a direct response to the call by the Federal Government for local and foreign investors to invest in Nigeria, create jobs and stimulate economic activities all around the country.”
Earlier, the chief executive officer of Advanced Energy Management Solutions Limited (AEMSL) Okechukwu Onyejiuwa said the factory could produce 1.4 million meters annually and, at the same time produce Single Phase and Three Phase as well as Maximum Demand (MD) Meters.
He also revealed that the factory would create about 500 direct jobs, comprising mainly of Engineers, Technicians as well and Finance and Administration professionals.
He stated: “In addition to the direct jobs, we estimate that there will also be over 4000 indirect jobs created by activities of this company.
“The operations of this factory will stimulate economic activities in the country, especially given the high-tech nature of the skills required for the manufacturing process.
“It will also conserve scarce foreign exchange through a reduction in the cost of imported raw materials, developing local raw materials sources and the potential for export to other countries within Africa and other parts of the world shortly.”
According to Onyejiuwa, the factory was established to support government efforts to resolve the nation’s power supply challenges by addressing the critical issue of a very high metering gap amongst consumers.
“It is also a direct response to the call by the Federal Government for local and foreign investors to invest in Nigeria, create jobs and stimulate economic activities all around the country.
“The manufacturing facility is equipped with advanced, cutting-edge equipment and machinery to manufacture a wide range of MD and non-MD smart energy meters, as well as feeder meters of accuracy class ranging from 0.2S to 1S in compliance with national and international standards.
“The factory is installed with ultrasonic welding machines and high-resolution laser printers, and equipped with a state-of-the-art QA/QC laboratory with environmental conditioning chamber, 35KV testing, glow wire testing, destructive testing, EHV testing, ageing testing, and power quality analyzer facilities, among others.
“Getting this factory completed from scratch has taken a toll on the various professionals and artisans who toiled every day to accomplish their tasks.”
The AEMSL boss appealed to the government to encourage AEMS, local Meter Manufacturing companies as well as future investors in Metering by making it possible for them to participate fully in the National Mass Metering Programme (NMMP).
He added: “Notwithstanding the challenges, we are determined to contribute our quota in the development of our sector and contribute to the power improvement objectives of the government.”
–Nation
