The Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Engr. Sule Sule Abdulaziz, Monday, asked the National Assembly to increase the budgetary allocation to the company to aid in the execution of its over 120 projects.
Abdulaziz, who spoke in Abuja when the Senate Committee on Power paid an oversight visit to the company, lamented that the N2 billion that TCN got from the 2024 budget allocation can only pay compensation.
To this end, he pleaded for an increased budget, and urged the committee to also help in addressing the issue of the right of way, and advocated a law that would give the right of way to the projects.
He, however, disclosed that vandalization was a huge challenge hampering the projects in the North East and South East, and disclosed that the company was collaborating with a Chinese firm to build a super grid.
The TCN MD also listed the causes of grid collapses to include vandalization, funding and the absence of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA).
Also speaking, an Independent System Operator (ISO) Executive Director, Engr. Nafisat Ali, accused the Discos of load rejection, saying that the development was one of the causes of grid collapse.
In his reaction, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Power, Senator Enyinnaya Abaribe, disclosed that his committee would review the penalties for power assets’ vandalization.
He explained that the members of the committee were on an oversight visit to TCN to find out the challenges that have led to a poor supply of electricity to Nigerians and also the reasons for the consistent collapses of the national grid.
Abaribe, however, sought clarification about the installed capacity and wheeling capacity as often used by the TCN, and described as unacceptable the situation where Nigerians must rely on a private generator to carry out their activities.
