The Association of Nigerian Electricity Distributors (ANED) has accused the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) as the weakest link in the energy system in the country. ANED director, Barrister Sunday Odutan in a television programme monitored in Abuja said the TCN officials were still operating with the same bureaucratic mentality that crippled the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Th e association said the TCN lacks the dynamics and force of character needed to drive the generation companies to rise the challenge of generating and supplying enough electricity to the distribution fi rms to distribute to Nigerians.
ANED wondered why the TCN has not stamped its bearing on the GENCOs to compel them to roll up their sleeves and perform to minimal expectations. “TCN is the weakest link in the power sector because its offi cials have continued conduct activities in the same bureaucratic fashion the PHCN had carried out its activities.
It has failed to compel the generation fi rms to perform and it has had telling eff ect on the work of DISCO,” he said lamenting that debts owed by Ministry, Department and Agencies (MDA) was indication of the federal government’s lack of sincerity of purpose in the power sector. ANED accusation corroborates similar accusation made by the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which recently alleged the TCN was frustrating eff orts to achieve stable electricity supply in the country.
Th e NNPC’s Group Managing Director of NNPC, Maikanti Baru, who had made accusation at the Oloibiri Lecture Series and Energy Forum which was organized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), in Abuja, claimed that although Nigeria currently had enough gas to generate at least 4,800 megawatts (MW) of electricity and 6,000 megawatts by second quarter of the year, he was afraid it may not be possible be of the activities of the TCN. He said Nigeria was currently producing an average of 8.0 billion Standard Cubic Feet (SCFD) per day of gas, stressing that about 1.3 billion SCFD was utilized for domestic consumption, 3.5 billion SCFD for export, 2.5 billion SCFD for reinjection fuel gas use, while abou
