Bridging technical gap in the power sector

One of the critical challenges bedevilling Nigeria’s power sector over the years has been the lack of adequate human capital. This has become even more acute with the reform and privatisation of the sector. Lack of adequate capacity building in the sector has led to deficiencies in skilled personnel in generation, transmission and distribution as well as in the management of regulatory and policy framework.

The embargo on employment in the defunct National Electricity Power Authority (NEPA) since 1998 and the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) which came after it created a wide skill gap in the sector. The disengagement resulting from the reform further stretched the situation.

According to a government report, the privatised successor companies inherited a power sector that had not recruited for 16 years, and had not structured skills training for the technical manpower for 23 years.

The sector is currently bogged down by an ageing workforce. At present, there is a huge deficit of technicians, artisans and craftsmen who account for less than 20 percent of the entire present workforce. Official figures have it that more than 20 percent of these artisans were between 51 and 60 years as at 2012.

With the expansion of access to power, government projects that the sector would need additional 8,200 artisans and craftsmen between now and 2020 to improve the sector.

To bridge this huge human capacity gap, government flagged off a National Power Sector Apprenticeship Scheme (NAPSAS) meant to train 7,400 youths as an emergency attempt to create a new pool of well-trained workforce for the sector. The National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN) is collaborating with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) to train the graduates who will become eligible for employment by the generation, transmission and distribution companies.

The first batch of trainees is drawn from the 36 states of the federation and Abuja. Out of the 7,400 trainees, 3,700 are under Federal Government sponsorship while participating states will sponsor 100 each. The scheme is a key way of advancing local content capacity of Nigerians. The intensive training will last from six months to a year and trainees will be paid a stipend.

The scheme will train artisans, filters, machinists, linesmen sub-station operators and joineries. These artisanal staff will then be ready as driving force of young men and women who take the power sector to higher heights.

NAPSAS is a fast-track capacity building through an apprenticeship scheme designed to deal with the yearning skills gap, according to government sources. The scheme is expected to provide adequate skills training in four core technical staff categories: distribution substation operators (DSO), cable joiners, linesmen/pole climbers and electrical fitters.

This scheme, for us, is very commendable. We therefore urge the incoming government, rather than throw it away, to look into ways of expanding the scheme and making it better and sustainable. Furthermore, it is our considered view that it is only by ensuring that graduates of the scheme are gainfully employed along the power sector supply chain that the key objectives of the scheme can be achieved.