By Tony Obiechina, Abuja
Following the irregular supply of electricity, especially to manufacturing companies, about five blue chip firms have invested over ¢1 billion to have regular supply of energy.
The firms include GB Foods, Vitafoam, Cormart, Nigerian Bottling Company and Bell Papyross.
Making this known at the Certificates Handover for Certified Energy Auditors in Abuja, the Advisor, Energy Management, Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP), Joshua Yari Garba said that following the investment, the firms record an annual energy savings of ¢700 million.
He said that the European Union (EU) and German Government within the framework of the Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) have supported the training and certification of 30 engineers from various manufacturing and energy service companies, including policy makers on energy audit.
“The gesture aims to develop expertise on energy efficiency services for the Nigerian manufacturing sector. The training was part of NESP’s support to participating companies of the Energy Efficiency Networks (EEN), a platform aimed at developing the technical capacity of energy managers to independently carry out energy audit in their production facilities.
The European Union in collaboration with Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP), undertakes training on energy efficiency for the staff of some manufacturing companies.
In a statement, Head of Section of Economic Co-operation and Energy at the European Union Delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Ms Inga STEFANOWICZ underlined the benefits of the energy audit training.
“The training was aimed at developing the capacity of professionals in the manufacturing sector to identify commercially viable energy efficiency measures to save energy, reduce energy cost and CO2 emissions. These will support the achievement of the country’s climate targets, ”she said.
Participants at the training included engineers from Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Flour Mills of Nigeria, PZ Cussons, CHI Limited, International Breweries, Nigerian Foundries, Vitafoam, Berger Paints, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals, Honeywell Flour Mills, Premium Oil, Golden Sugar, Nestle, Golden Pasta, Hello Products, Jubaili Bros. Engineering, Danelec Limited and the Nigerian Bag Manufacturing Company.
Following a supervised examination, conducted by AEE, successful participants were awarded the Certified Energy Auditor (CEA) credentials.
Similarly, in a bid to develop expertise of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) to conduct and lead effective energy management system audits, NESP supported the training and certification of 22 female and male staff of the Standards Organisation of Nigeria as certified ISO 50001:2018 Lead Auditors issued by the British Standards Institution (BSI).
The training covered key principles and practices of an effective energy management system audit in accordance with ISO 19011 “guidelines for auditing management systems.”
“Using a systematic approach, the participants of the training were guided through the entire audit process from initiation to reporting on audit findings, and follow-up to establish conformity and enhance energy performance. Successful participants of both trainings were presented with their certificates” the statement added.
Speaking at the presentation ceremony, the Director of Management System Certification of SON, Engineer Felix Nyado expressed delight in NESP’s support.
“The training will certainly enhance the capacity of SON staff to take on the role of Lead Auditors on ISO 50001 Energy Management System standard,” he said.
Also speaking, Head of Programme, NESP, Duke Benjamin, said: “Following the success of the trainings, there was a high level of interests from manufacturers to improve energy performance, energy savings and CO2 emissions reduction in the participating companies.
