The Next Edition
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • Featured
  • Investigations
  • Foreign
  • Special Reports
  • Entertainment
  • Interviews
  • Advert Rate
No Result
View All Result
The Next Edition
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • Featured
  • Investigations
  • Foreign
  • Special Reports
  • Entertainment
  • Interviews
  • Advert Rate
Home Top News

DisCos Lack Capacity To Meet Nigeria’s Electricity Demands – TCN

Next Edition by Next Edition
February 4, 2020
in Top News
DisCos Lack Capacity To Meet Nigeria’s Electricity Demands – TCN
0
SHARES
1
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Whatsapp

The Managing Director Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) Usman Mohammed, said on Monday that Power Distribution Companies (DisCos) lacked the capacity to meet the nation’s electricity needs.

Mohammed, who made the assertion on Monday in Lagos while speaking with the Nation, faulted the privatisation process which he said produced weak Discos.

You might also like

JAMB Hires IT Experts To Probe Alleged UTME Glitches

Tinubu Bags Lifetime African Achievement Award In Ghana

NDLEA Uncovers Hidden Drug Storage Inside Fuel Tanker

“Some mistakes were made in the privatisation of the power sector and the mistakes led to very weak companies that succeeded in taking over the DisCos. The law was adjusted to allow bidding companies use technical partners and the partners were not to produce the Managing Directors. This made it easy for companies without capacity to buy the DiScos. The weakness must be corrected by recapitalising the DisCos because when we did the privatisation, we didn’t have the investments commensurate with the distribution network,” he said.

The TCN boss, however, cautioned against re-purchase of the privatised companies by the government because it would send a wrong signal to foreign investors. Instead, he said, the DisCos must be recapitalised to enhance their capacity. Mohammed expressed regret that the Federal Government has spent N1.5 trillion on the DisCos with little or nothing to show for it.

The TCN has estimated a DisCo capital requirement of $4.3billion to address capacity shortfalls and enable load growth to keep pace with capacity growth, he explained.

READ ALSO: Decommissioning of Metres By DisCos: We Gave No Such Directive – NERC

Mohammed listed other conditions for the DisCos to be able to live up to their responsibilities to include the commencement of bilateral trade, competitive procurement as required by National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Investment Regulation 2015, competitive Procurement of generation companies, resetting the books of the Discos, proportionate representation on Board of DisCos by the Ministry of Finance and sustenance of Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme (TREP).

According to him, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals classified access to electricity as a standalone goal number 7 because it stands out as the most important infrastructure. He explained that countries with good Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita have uninterrupted electricity supply.

Mohammed also told The Nation that the crisis of the Nigeria electricity market was traceable to poor liquidity, lack of sustainable investment, weak national grid with system instability, emergency solution and poor planning. He also faulted the use of single buyer model, explaining that it had never worked anywhere it was adopted.

He said his administration had recovered 795 of 810 containers containing TCN apparatuses abandoned by contractors at the port. Some, he said, were abandoned for over 15 years.

Mohammed said with countries like Benin Republic, Chad, Niger, Cameroon, which get their source of power from Nigeria, with uninterrupted supply, the country has no excuse.

Mohammed said when President Muhammadu Buhari administration came into power, the value chains in the power sector had problems ranging from generation to transmission and distribution.

“The generation was around 3,500 megawatts just as distribution and transmission capacity was not more than 5,000 megawatts. But, as of December 2018, transmission capacity reached around 8,100 megawatts, which means that there is a significant improvement.

“Now, the generation capacity is about 7,500 megawatts, which also means significant improvement. So, if you had three things that were not working and you have fixed two, a significant improvement has taken place.

“With the government’s N72 billion distribution programme being implemented by the Ministry of Power and other interventions, I believe the government is willing to resolve the last line and soon, we will see better results,” Mohammed said.

Tags: CameroonDiscosfeaturedPresident Mohammadu BuhariTransmission Company of NigeriaTransmission Rehabilitation and Expansion ProgrammeUsman Mohammed
Next Edition

Next Edition

Recommended For You

JAMB Eases Restrictions On Services To Aid pre-2020 Candidates

JAMB Hires IT Experts To Probe Alleged UTME Glitches

The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has engaged top IT experts and educational assessment professionals to investigate alleged technical glitches that marred the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination....

Palliative: FG Approves N5bn For States, LGs

Tinubu Bags Lifetime African Achievement Award In Ghana

President Bola Tinubu has bagged the Lifetime African Achievement award from the Millennium Excellence Foundation based in Ghana, NAN reports on Monday. Tinubu, while receiving the award, commended...

NDLEA Uncovers Hidden Drug Storage Inside Fuel Tanker

NDLEA Uncovers Hidden Drug Storage Inside Fuel Tanker

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency have intercepted a fuel tanker that was modified to conceal and transport illicit drugs across Nigeria.   NDLEA’s Director of...

Lagos task force clears container trucks

20-ft Container Falls, Kills Two Dispatch Riders In Lagos

Two dispatch riders have lost their lives after a 20-feet container fell on them during a collision involving two fully loaded Mack trucks on Eko Bridge inward Alaka...

Next Post
GTBank, Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Make ARM’s Hot Stocks List

GTBank, Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Make ARM’s Hot Stocks List




Related News

Agatu Killing: Benue Govt Imposes Dusk To Dawn Curfew

Agatu Killing: Benue Govt Imposes Dusk To Dawn Curfew

IPI Raises Concerns over Harassment, Endless Prosecution of Mariam Ressa

IPI Raises Concerns over Harassment, Endless Prosecution of Mariam Ressa

UN raises alarm over hunger in 9 African countries, others

Ukraine: Nuclear Conflict ‘Inconceivable,’ Guterres Tells UN General Assembly




The Next Edition

Office Address

3B, Agboola Aina street, Off Toyin Street,
Ikeja, Lagos.

Quick Contact Details

Phone:
08033018430
Whatsapp:
08051679910

Email:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Categories

  • Aviation
  • Beauty
  • Breaking News
  • Business
  • Columnists
  • Editorial
  • Entertainment
  • Fashion
  • Featured
  • Football
  • Foreign
  • Headline News
  • Home & Garden
  • Interviews
  • Investigations
  • North Central
  • North East
  • North West
  • Opinion
  • Parenting
  • Politics
  • Relationships
  • South East
  • South West
  • South-South
  • Special Reports
  • Sports
  • Top News
  • Vox Pops

© Next Edition Business Development Limited

  • About Us
  • Advert Rate
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • About Us
  • News
  • Featured
  • Investigations
  • Foreign
  • Special Reports
  • Entertainment
  • Interviews
  • Advert Rate

© Next Edition Business Development Limited