Participants of the Senior Executive Course 43 of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, NIPSS, Kuru – Jos, paid a study visit to the Corporate Headquarters of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, in Abuja on Thursday.
The Study Group 1 participants led by its Chairman, Rear Admiral E.O. Jaiyeola, were in TCN to understudy TCN’s operational policies and were received by the Ag. Managing Director and CEO of TCN, Engr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz.
While highlighting the achievements of the current management of TCN in less than one year in office, the Managing Director, Engr. Abdulaziz, also acknowledged the critical role of the Institute as the think tank of the nation.
He disclosed that the present Management of TCN was vigorously pursuing its grid maintenance, expansion, and rehabilitation program, knowing fully well that as a nexus in the power sector, TCN plays a vital role in providing leadership and a practical show of commitment to the progress of electricity supply in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI). Given this, he noted, TCN has installed several transformers, rehabilitated several substations, reconductored power transmission lines with several projects ongoing, and has also put in place a proactive maintenance program to which it diligently adheres.
“I’m glad to inform you that due to our commitment in TCN, transmission grid disturbances have been reduced to the barest minimum; grid capacity has also increased. Within the first quarter of this year, TCN efficiently wheeled successive all-time peak generation without a hitch, the latest being 5,801.60 megawatts (MW) to distribution load centers nationwide,” said Abdulaziz.
The TCN head further noted that the company has continued to collaborate with the Generation Companies (GenCos) and the Distribution Companies (DisCos) towards ensuring that power is made more available to Nigerians.
He urged the Institute to consider including officers of the company as participants in subsequent courses, considering the critical role TCN plays in electricity supply nationwide and as a public utility.
In his remarks, Chairman of the NIPSS Study Group 1 Senior Course participant delegation to TCN, Rear Admiral E.O. Jaiyeola, said the course was to prime the participants on developing strategic and specific policies for national development. According to him, Nigeria is neither short of policies nor programs for national development but that the challenge has been in implementation and ensuring that things are done properly. In his words “for this Senior Executive Course, the task from Mr. President is for us to interrogate the challenges and issues surrounding getting things done as we x-ray various policies and programs and that is the reason why we are here, particularly focusing on the power sector.”
During the interactive session, the Market Operator at TCN, Engr. Edmund Eje explained the process that led to the power sector privatization and the role of TCN in the power sector with two licenses for Transmission Service and Independent System Operations/Market Operations issued to it by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC).
The presentation of the report on inquiries from the visiting NIPSS course participants was followed by an interactive session with the Management team and General Managers heading the various departments in TCN, on various strategies TCN has deployed to boost bulk power delivery in Nigeria and the way forward for the growth of Nigeria’s electricity sector.
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