The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) has said that 34 electricity workers lost their lives in the line of duty between April and June this year.
According to the report by the NERC, 17 workers sustained injuries in 64 accidents recorded during the period.
Despite the number of casualties recorded in the sector, the NERC said that it monitored the health and safety performance of the industry in line with the Electricity Act 2023 which mandates the commission to ensure the provision of safe and reliable electricity to consumers.
The NERC explained that the licensees are mandated to submit monthly health and safety reports to the commission in accordance with the requirements of their licence.
In 2024/Q2, out of the 99 mandatory health and safety reports expected to be received from licensees, only 91 reports were received by the commission which promised to enforce 100 per cent reporting compliance by licensees and apply sanctions where applicable.
Relative to 2024/Q1, the number of accidents increased by 14.55 per cent from 55 to 63.
“The number of fatalities increased by +47.83 per cent (23 to 34) but the number of injuries decreased by -45.16 per cent (31 to 17),” the report said.
According to the commission, during the quarter, no casualty was recorded among the power-generation companies while NESCO and Yola were the only Discos that did not record casualties.
Out of the 51 casualties reported in the quarter, the licensees with the highest number of casualties were Ibadan (13), Eko (8), Jos (7), and Enugu (6) which represented 25.49 per cent, 15.69 per cent, 13.73 per cent and 11.76 per cent respectively.
GIK/APA