Mr Valentine Nwaimo, Director, Mechanical Engineering Services in the Ministry of Works and Housing, says energy audit skills will aid in developing Nigeria’s energy efficiency sector.
Nwaimo said this in Abuja during a workshop for professional energy auditors on energy efficiency.
“European Union is assisting Nigeria to know more on energy efficiency in order to conserve energy, it is like energy management.
“The country wants to save more energy, the building energy efficiency code was launched in 2017 and the training is the implementation of the code.
“We are training professional engineer auditors to look at houses, do modernisation in line with building energy efficiency,’’ he said.
Nwaimo said the training was with the assistance of EU and German Government-Supported Training on energy audit in buildings for professionals in the Nigerian building sector to increase the usage of energy efficiency measures in buildings.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Ms Edima Okodi-Iyah said Nigerian Energy Support Programme (NESP) was currently implementing a three-phase Professional Energy Auditors (PEA) training of building industry professionals and policymakers.
Okodi-Iyah said that the training was for professionals in the public and private sectors on how to conduct building energy audits.
“The first phase of the PEA training held in May in Abuja and Lagos, at which 300 building professionals were introduced to the concept of “Building Energy Audit”.
“At the end, the participants completed an assessment which was used to identify persons with demonstrated knowledge of the principles and practices of energy auditing,’’ she said.
Okodi-Iyah said that during the opening that the Head of Energy Section of the Delegation of the EU to Nigeria and ECOWAS, Catherine Thomsen, highlighted the importance of energy efficiency in combating climate change effects.
She said that on completion of the training, trainees would write an exam relating to the taught modules.
According to her, successful candidates will then receive international certification as Professional Energy Auditors (PEAs).
She said that NESP was a 33 million euro technical assistance programme co-funded by the EU and the German Government and jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the ministry.
Okodi-Iyah said that the programme was aimed at enabling and fostering investments in a domestic market for renewable energy and energy efficiency and improving access to electricity, especially in rural communities in Nigeria.
Mr Muhammad Yankara, a participant from SKY Habitat Ltd, said the training had taught them a lot about energy efficiency and understanding how energy should not be wasted.
Yankara said that they had been exposed and given the right tools to optimise the country’s energy.
“After this training I will be equipped with the best knowledge on the usage of energy efficiency measures,’’ he said.
Another participant, Mr Adetola Oyenuga, Deputy Head of Unit, Prime Tech Solutions Ltd a professional IT service provider said that the training would enable the professional utilise the same energy used in one building for many other buildings.
Oyenuga said that Nigeria would now witness improved access to electricity especially in rural communities. (NAN)