The Minister of Power, Engr. Abubakar Aliyu, has called on all power sector stakeholders to embrace constant dialogue among themselves as a strategy in fostering collaborative relationships between generation, transmission and distribution companies for efficient service delivery.

Engr. Aliyu, made the call during a meeting with Management of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), who briefed him on the present status, prospects and achievements of the Company from May 2020 till date, recently in Abuja.

In his presentation to the Minister, the Ag. Managing Director/ Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Engr. Dr. Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, said TCN's areas of priority was the implementation of the Nigeria Electricity Grid Maintenance, Expansion and Rehabilitation Program (NEGMERP) with the program developmental objective of delivering quality bulk electricity supply to Distribution Load Centers, while giving equal attention to all transmission lines and substation projects across the country.  

According to him, other areas of priority include the Improvement of Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) to strengthen the Company's ability to meet its obligations, Service Level Mechanism Development, positioning itself to better serve the GenCos, DisCos, Eligible Customers and international customers, human capacity development and staff welfare and general improvement in operational systems and processes.

Engr. Abdulaziz also mentioned other milestones recorded by the Company in the last two years to include the creation of a peaceful atmosphere for industrial harmony between the two in-house Unions and a harmonious working environment for staff, which has led to increased productivity.   

He also explained that within the last two years TCN had developed cordial relationships with GenCos and DisCos, and consider them critical stakeholders using a more collaborative approach through dialogue, interface meetings and accommodating service level thresholds with DisCos.

He said TCN has improved its capacity for International Procurement and Project Management by training several members of staff to drive projects implementation. Upgrade has also been achieved in the areas of repairs of major equipment such as Power Transformers and system studies to guide decisions on System expansion and upgrade.

Engr. Abdulaziz highlighted a number of TCN completed projects within the last two years to include; the Construction of 2x60MVA, 132/33kV Substation at Gagarawa, Jigawa State, Construction of 2x30MVA, 132/33kV Substation at Yelwa Yauri, Construction of Ikorodu-Odogunyan-Shagamu 132kV double circuit transmission line and the Construction of 2x60MVA, 132/33kV Substation at Agu-Awka, Anambra State.

Others are; Reinforcement of Ogba TS, Lagos State with 1X100MVA Transformer, Reinforcement of Ikeja West TS, Lagos State with 1X300MVA Transformer, Reinforcement of Rumosi, Rivers State with 1X60 MVA Transformer, Reinforcement of Okene TS, Lagos State with 1X40 MVA Transformer, Reinforcement of Iseyin TS, Lagos State with 1X40 MVA Transformer and the Reconductoring 140km Birni-Kebbi-Sokoto line 330/132kV.

He also informed that TCN now has a responsive and expedient maintenance culture and has procured spare parts for the Central Store to sustain effective maintenance. TCN, he said, has also commenced the process of decentralizing the central store for easy access by regional offices and has equally undertaken massive trace clearing.

Engr. Abdulaziz said that for efficient service delivery the new Kano Region, was created from Kaduna Region and four Work Centres upgraded to Sub-Regions in Dutse, Gwagwalada, Ganmo and Katsina. He added that seven (7) new work centres were also created in Akure, Asaba, Ihovbor, Kontagora, Jalingo and Uyo.

On general improvement in operational systems and processes, the Ag. MD/CEO said that TCN has commenced the deployment of Automatic Meter Reading System to improve efficiency and transparency of Market data administration, secured funding for implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) to improve internal business processes and accountability, acquired system planning software for studies to facilitate efficient and scientific decisions related to network development and the deployment of processes to implement the Service Level Tariff Order among others.

He intimated the Minister that the efforts initiated to achieve effective grid management by TCN have resulted in, multiple all-time peak generation in the last 15 months with the highest peak generation of 5,801.60MW on 1st March, 2021.