TCN Boss Restates Determination to Take Power Sector to Next Level Efficiency

Unveils new roadmap, NEGMERP

By Odimmegwa Johnpeter, Abuja

The Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Engr. Abdulaziz Sule has restated his determination to take the Nigeria power sector to the next level of efficiency and effectiveness. Sule stated this during his maiden press briefing in Abuja on Wednesday.

According to Engr. Sule, the Gagarawa substation project commissioned last week which were the second official project commissioned by the new TCN management after assumption of office a few months ago presented a very good opportunity for him to introduce a new roadmap in TCN, the Nigeria Electricity Grid Maintenance, Expansion and rehabilitative program (NEGMERP). This he stated, is a well thought out program with the objective of delivering quality bulk electricity supply to Nigerians while giving equal attention and priority to all transmission lines and substation project across the length and breadth of the federal republic of Nigeria, and at the same time not forgetting major business as grid managers which is to efficiently operate and maintain existing facilities.

He further stated that this program which is anchored on the presidential power initiative have the following major components: All FGN funded projects; All international donor funded projects; All internally Generated Revenue projects; The Siemens intervention projects; All In-house project and service level improvement projects. He also noted that his administration pays great attention to improving its operatives in terms of prioritizing and upgrading the independents system operation (ISO) sector via SCADA and communication equipment upgrades. His words: “It is also worthy to note that this administration pays great attention to improving our operations in terms of prioritizing and upgrading our independent system operation (ISO) sector via SCADA and communication equipment upgrades. Our national control centers, Regional control centers and substation control rooms upgrade and rehabilitations are all part of the NEGMERP programs.

All this programs are going to be driven by our staff hence staff welfare is top on our priority as well”. On the question of system collapse experienced recently nationwide, Engr. Sule stated that system collapse is a worldwide phenomenon but that the most important thing is that TCN was able to rectify the problem within 40 minutes.

He also reveal that there are several ongoing projects under TCN that was abandoned at a very advance stage of completion by the last administration for no good Engineer or project Management reason and stressed the collective resolve of his management team to take the Nigerian power sector to the next level of efficiency and effectiveness.

Recent achievements of the new TCN management as enumerated by its Managing Director, Engr. Abdulaziz Sule,

Include:

Developed key projects from master plan that made up the TREP and established four project implement units (PIUs) to drive their implementation.
Attracted US$1.66b from multilateral donor agencies from implementation of the projects most of which at various level of executions.
Procurement of most of the projects is ongoing based on Advance procurement system adopted for the projects in agreement with the donors
Some of the projects are already awarded and currently being implemented.
Effective grid management that has led to the all-time peak generation of 5377.8MW recorded on August 1, 2020 at 20:30hrs, made possible with the intervention of all of you. Shortly after, on August 19, 2020 at 19:15hrs, transmission company of Nigeria recorded yet another all-time National peak of 5,420.30MW, which was effectively transmitted to load centers. (Within an interval of less than 3 week) the latest being 5,520.40MW on 30^th October, 2020 at 9:15pm, to distribute load centers nationwide. The highest so far in the history of the nation’s power sector.
Completion of some abandoned on-going projects such as;
Gagarawa 2x60MVA, 132/ 33KV substation, in jiagwa state
1x1100MVA Transformer at Ogba TS, Lagos State.
Installation and commissioning of 132/33KV 60MVA Transformer at Rumuosi T/S, in Port Harcourt, river state.
Installation and commissioning of 1x150MVA Transformer at Kano.
Increase transmission wheeling capacity from 5,500MW in 2017 to about 8,000MW.
For efficient operations and maintenance, the management created two (2) new work centers at katsina and jalingo. Gwagwalada work Centre was also upgraded to Sub-Region.
The 2020 promotion exercise is also on-going, while the new career progression paths was signed on May 31, 2020, giving room for progression as most staff who were stagnated prior to the coming of this management are now being promoted. Many offices that are in the organogram but were wrongly closed are now being restored, hence staff are getting promoted and motivated.
Improved enforcement of market rules related to Discos payment obligations to the market Operator which increased TCN’s revenue collecting from about 35% in 2017 to 100% in May 2019 and till date.
Facilitate implementation of Eligible customer regulation which attracted additional revenue for TCN.
Harnessed other sources of revenue from 3^rd party use TCN Assets
Improved TCN’s capacity for international procurement and project management by training several members of staff to drove projects implementation.
Improved TCN’s capacity in the repairs of major equipment such as power transformer.
Improved TCN’s capability for system studies to guide decision on system expansion and upgrade.
Continuous training of all cadres of staff for general skills upgrade in various fields and computer appreciation for all.
Commenced deployment of Automatic meter reading system to improve efficiency and transparency of market data administration.
Secured funding for implementation of Enterprise Resource plaining (ERP) to improve internal business processes and accountability. Terms of reference for the project consultancy is being finalized to lunch the procurement
Acquired system plaining software for studies to facilitate efficient and scientific decisions related to network development.