- The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission has directed the Transmission Company of Nigeria to maintain a single account for the payment of electricity funds.
- NERC’s directive came on Monday as a result of the latest threat by the TCN management contractor, Manitoba Hydro International Nigeria Limited, to withdraw from the laid-down agreement over alleged “substantial breach of contract.”
- The Canadian firm had stated that the market operator, which is an arm of the TCN, had opened a different bank account into which electricity funds were being diverted.
- Reacting to the development, the Chairman of NERC, Dr. Sam Amadi, told our correspondent that the commission had to wade into the matter in order to restore sanity to the corporate governance affairs at the transmission firm.
He said, “The dispute involving the TCN, Manitoba and other people is what NERC has intervened in to ensure that the company is well governed. It is to ensure that the governance in the TCN does not in any way affect the framework of Manitoba.
“On the issue of opening a new account, we have resolved it by directing them to close the new account and revert to the old one. On the appointments, what we are saying is that we will ensure that no appointment will distort the TCN structure until the government changes that structure.”