MONROVIA – The Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC), with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB), has begun a five-day user training for its employees ahead of the deployment of the Regulatory Database Management System (RDBMS).
By Francis G. Boayue
The LERC continued with day two of the workshop on Wednesday, March 20, at the Bella Casa hotel in Monrovia. The workshop, which started on Tuesday, March 19, is facilitated by Iridis Technologies, designated to train LERC workers on the operations and use of the RDBMS.
The training, which began on March 19, 2024, will end on March 23 and is being conducted by a technology called Iridis Technologies.
Speaking on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, in Monrovia, Iridis Technologies Consultant Prof. Peter A. Yirenkyi said the training is expected to help staffers of the commission to operationalize the victory of the database system, which has been considered a business process.
According to Prof. Yirenkyi, the training is divided into two parts: technical training and user experience.
“The technical aspect is where people interact technically and understand the processes that have been automated and see what has been created and what our expectations are, while the user experience is the interface training where members/staff of LERC will have the opportunity to log in themselves and practice how they will use the database system,” Iridis Technologies consultant narrated.
In 2023, the AfDB approved a US$255,000 grant to support the establishment of a Regulatory Database Management System (RDBMS) at the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission (LERC). The RDBMS will automate key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor utilities’ performance on set benchmarks such as financial performance, technical and commercial quality of service performance, quality of service delivery, and operational efficiency.
It can be recalled that on December 4, 2024, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners, LERC Dr. Lawrence D. Sekajipo, asserted that the Regulatory Database Management System (RDBMS) when set up will digitize LERC’s internal processes, enabling the Commission to improve operational efficiency, achieve higher productivity, and reduce turnaround times in business processes. He described the RDBMS as “a significant milestone in the electricity industry that will assist in achieving the Government of Liberia’s electricity agenda to provide reliable access to 70% of the Liberian population by the year 2030”.
For his part, Mr. Solomon Sarpong, Senior Energy Economist/Policy Officer at the AfDB and the Project Task Manager, commended LERC for the speedy and efficient implementation of the project and said the Bank will continue to support such initiatives.
Mr. Sarpong, providing the context for the Bank’s support to the Commission, said the AfDB conceived the idea to support RDBMS following LERC’s performance in the Regulatory Index for Africa that assesses electricity frameworks in African countries to identify gaps and find solutions.
He said LERC has been a consistent participant even though it is a new regulator, and that the Bank is aware of all the regulatory instruments it is developing and takes note. “The Bank found out that one of the things to address these gaps is the digitalization initiative and LERC had rightly made the request to AfDB. This is a one-stop gap solution to address LERC’s identified gaps which is to allow stakeholders’ participation and transparency in regulation. The Bank is pleased with the level of work that will make LERC move up the index”, he asserted.
Mr. Sarpong pinpointed that when the RDBMS project is completed, the Commission’s technical team will now be able to sit in the office and get real-time information; and the next phase of the project will focus on stakeholders’ buy-in and real-time link-ins with operators, he asserted.
The Bank, Mr. Sarpong revealed, will soon begin the implementation of the African Energy Sector Technical Assistance Program and urged the Commission to take advantage.
Providing an overview of the workshop, Dr. Kofi Sarpong Adu-Manu, Lead Consultant and Program Director of Iridis Technologies, said his organization is pleased to be associated with this milestone project that the Liberia Electricity Regulatory Commission is undertaking.
Dr. Adu-Manu said the workshop will build the capacity of technical teams from LERC and licensed operators who will be using this system. “We are going to provide hands-on training for the technical teams for the effective use of the system. The system largely depends on the database, its management, and security. The system cannot be put in place without technical expertise”.
He explained that as part of the Bank’s requirements, it is expected that IRIDIS Solutions provide effective training to ensure effective and efficient use of the RDBMS. “IRIDIS Solution will provide some essentials so that the technical teams will be able to understand some of the core concepts relative to the database. Also, essential ways to curb attackers so when the system is deployed online to be ready for any eventuality because this is an electronic system, and it is posed to threats”.
So, when these threats happen, the technical team is already ahead of the threat. They will always be ahead of attackers. Our goal is to always have the system functional. How to optimize the operations of the system to ensure that everything is on point, Dr. Adu-Manu informed participants.