Minister of Power sacks TCN MD, confirms appointment of Directors

The Minister of Power, Engr Sale Mamman has sacked the Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Usman Mohammed, and replaced him with Sule Abdulaziz, in an acting capacity.

This was disclosed in a statement issued by the Special Adviser Media & Communications to the Minister, Aaron Artimas on Tuesday and seen by Nairametrics.

Artimas also disclosed that the minister confirmed the appointment of four directors, who have been on acting position in the company for some time. The Directors are Executive Director, Transmission Services Provider, Victor Adewunmi; Executive Director, Independent Systems Operator, M ‘J Lawal; Executive Director, Finance & Accounts, Ahmed Isa-Dutse, and Executive Directors, Human Resources & Corporate Service, Justin Dodo.

He said, “All the changes and appointments have been approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.”

Before TCN MD’s removal …

Some industry watchers have attributed the immediate removal of Mohammed to the frosty relationship between TCN and Distribution Companies (DisCos), which they believe is taking its toll on the supply of electricity to Nigerians.

Earlier in May 2020, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) summoned TCN and the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) for a meeting after the duo has traded allegations on faulty networks. On one hand, TCN accused the AEDC of refusing to take energy from its substations during a downpour, calling for more investments on AEDC’s ‘poor’ networks, on the other AEDC, which admitted that it didn’t uptake power from the TCN, accused the transmission firm of lacking inadequate system protection that has often caused more trouble for the DisCo.

A source, who was at the NERC’s meeting, had disclosed that the cold relationship between the two organisations had continued to fester because the “TCN still behaves like the defunct National Electric Power Authority (NEPA) by trying to lord over other stakeholders.”

During the meeting, the Chairman of NERC, Prof. James Momoh, reportedly warned the duo against the infighting in the sector and asked the duo to find common grounds so as not to compound the problems in the industry.

Mohammed’s recapitalisation move

Nairametrics reported in January 2020, when TCN pushed for the recapitalisation of the DisCos to separate the wheat from the chaff in the new year.

What it means: The transmission firm planned to restructure the capital base of the distribution companies operating in the country. Mohammed, was of the opinion that the distribution companies within the country were not effectively disbursing their responsibility, so recapitalisation would improve their operation.

He said the capacity to duly supply electricity efficiently was lacking among the power distribution companies. Mohammed also opined that the recapitalisation of the power sector would attract investors to boost development.

“We are working to see that all the projects that we have under the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme will pick up and they will continue to be implemented in a sustainable manner.

“We are going to actually push for the recapitalisation of Discos in 2020. We believe that by doing that we are pushing the power sector to sustainable growth and development. The power sector has to attract investments.”

Could it be that the immediate past MD of TCN became too ambitious for President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration or he might have stepped on someone’s toes? The move of the new MD, Abdulaziz would shed lights on what really happened.