Calabar Electrocution Underscores Need for Education on Electricity Hazards

The recent electrocution of football fans in Calabar and the recurrence of similar incidents nationwide, underscores the need for operators and consumers to take compliance with safety measures and the safe use of electricity seriously, writes Chineme Oka

Few days back, about 10 people who were watching a football game in a makeshift Calabar viewing centre were electrocuted and several others injured when a line from an 11kV electricity line snapped and passed unsafe electricity to them.

Though the incident happened in a structure that perhaps violated the building code or plan of Cross Rivers State, and by extension the right of way of the high-tension electricity line, it was not different from a separate incident that happened in July 2016, when people living in homes built under two 330KV/132KV high voltage electricity transmission lines in Lugbe area of Abuja were electrocuted.

These incidents, with their casualty figures, indicate that obedience to safe use of electricity by consumers in Nigeria still constitutes a huge challenge before operators in the country’s electricity supply industry.

Investigations into the cause of the Calabar incident, which happened in an area serviced by the Port Harcourt electricity distribution company (Disco), have been initiated by relevant stakeholders, including the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), Nigerian Electricity Management Services Agency (NEMSA) and the affected Disco.

Need for honest investigations Expectedly, NERC had announced that it had dispatched a team of investigators to look into the cause of the accident. This was in addition to claims by the Port Harcourt Disco that it has commenced full investigations on the accident, as well as, the anticipation that the NEMSA, which is the industry’s technical inspector would also get involved.

According to a statement from Dr. Usman Arabi, who is NERC’s head of public affairs, the commission said: “The NERC few moments ago received a report on an accident in Calabar, Cross Rivers State, where some Nigerians were reportedly electrocuted and others sustained various degrees of injuries”.

“The preliminary report of our investigation indicates that the accident occurred when an 11KV high tension line under which a television viewing centre was constructed snapped causing the electrocution of some of the occupants of the viewing centre, with some others sustaining various degrees of injuries,” Arabi said.

“Our team of experts has been dispatched to the scene of the accident to investigate the remote and immediate cause of this unfortunate occurrence. Pending the outcome of our investigation, the commission commiserates with the families, friends and relatives of the deceased, the government and people of Cross Rives State,” Arabi added.

NERC has equally underlined the need for industry operators and users of electricity to understand and observe its safety codes in the supply and use of electricity from the grid, adding that it would provide the outcome of the investigation to the public.

The fact that more than one entity would undertake investigations into the incident indicate that more than one source of information on its cause would be available, thus eliminating the potentials of underhand management of the incident.

The development would also provide the public and stakeholders the true position of events as to who was responsible for the incident and for prosecution by the law for clear breach of industry safety codes.

Regulation on safe use of electricity According to NERC, the Nigerian Electricity Health and Safety Code, which it signed into law in 2014, has remained a practical document formulated with the best industry practices in mind to ensure that standards in health and safety were obeyed in the supply and use of electricity as required under Part III Sections 32 (1) (e) and 32(2) (b) of the Electric Power Sector Reform (EPSR) Act 2005.

When the regulator launched the code, it said it was developed by an inclusive industry panel under its leadership.

It also said the code passed through all required regulatory consultation processes to the industry’s safety demands.

According to it, membership of the panel that drew up the safety code for the sector were drawn from the generation, transmission and distribution subsectors of the industry, as well as from the federal government’s ministries of power and justice and Licensed Electrical Contractors (LECAN) amongst others.

NERC had noted then that the code applied to all its licensees and any such person in the electricity value chain who operates electrical premises.

It had also explained that such stakeholder had the responsibility of ensuring the health and safety of workers, equipment and the public in the circumstances described in the code, and which included safe supply of electricity.

Its then chairman, Dr. Sam Amadi had declared at the launch of the code that “With the health safety code in place, it is expected that the industry operators will step-up the health and safety activities in their respective companies otherwise they will be faced with stringent penalties. From now on, electrocution cases will no longer be treated lightly,” Amadi reportedly said.

Amadi had also explained that while the commission worked hard to ensure cost reflective tariffs to improve the funding and revenue stream of the utilities to provide world class services to customers, it would also expect them to pay greater attention to improve efficiency and safety of their networks.

Case of Abuja’s Tudun Wada While it will be difficult to state for certain the level of culpability of the Port Harcourt Disco in the Calabar accident, the fact remained that both the Disco and owner of the entertainment centre would have to share blames in the act.

Both parties may in practice be liable for negligence of the danger and continued supply of electricity to the structure despite its potential to cause accidents.

During THISDAY’s independent investigations in the case of Tudun Wada, members of the community had disclosed that Abuja Disco, which was responsible for their supplies had continued to supply electricity to the community for which it collected revenues irrespective of the poor connections as well as their proximity to the dangerous transmission highway.

Using substandard practices and quack electricians that were not under the employ of Abuja Disco, residents of Tudun Wada allegedly connected to the network, yet the Disco failed to take actions against the practices considering that they were illegal connections.

The Disco also didn’t recognise this as a legitimate ground to discontinue supplies to the community to first guarantee safety, and perhaps clean up the connections.

That perhaps could be applicable to the Calabar incident, and the reasons why a regulatory investigation would be necessary to ascertain the level of each parties’ culpability.

The NERC has consistently frowned at acts of profiteering at the instance of safety, and so for both parties, their decision to perhaps ignore safety practices could speak volume of how poorly they appreciate safe supply and use of electricity.

In recap, living and operating under high voltage transmission lines and constant disregard to requests for safe use of electricity just the way Abuja’s Tudun Wada and Calabar’s entertainment centre did, has become a common practice across Nigeria irrespective of repeated electrical accidents recorded from such acts.

Clearly, it would not be out of place to state that communities and consumers across Nigeria have overtime helped to aggravate incidences of electrical accidents either by failing to adhere strictly to warnings against unsafe use of electricity or malpractices in their connections to networks.

Some Discos have on their parts often failed to effectively take the message to customers on the dangers of illegal connections; use of poor electrical equipment; and residing too close to electrical installations just like in Tudun Wada and Calabar.

Until real measures are taken to ensure that safe supply and use of electricity is mutually practiced by operators and consumers, instances of electrical accidents in Nigeria may sadly continue to occur.