The Minister of Power Abubakar Aliyu, has insisted that the Federal Government has no plan to privatize the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN.
The Minister in a statement by his media aide, Isa Sanusi, yesterday, urged the public to dismiss statements regarding “a non-existing plan to privatize the TCN”.
He said claims in the media that TCN, which is the only wholly government owned operator in Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry, NESI, would be sold in the next few months were false.
“These reports are untrue and are only mere misinformation aimed at spreading panic in the power sector, which is making progress towards ensuring that Nigerians enjoy uninterrupted power supply.
“The Federal Government of Nigeria has no intent to sell or privatize the Transmission Company of Nigeria, and no one in the FGN has made a statement of an intent to sell TCN,” he said.
The Minister explained that TCN “is a centrepiece in the Federal Government of Nigeria’s efforts to rejuvenate the power sector. Therefore, the Ministry of Power working with key stakeholders is continuing to evaluate, assess and upgrade TCN to make it more efficient and transparent.
“As part of the repositioning of TCN, job opportunities are being created, as with the recently concluded ramp up of employment, contrary to claims that there is a plan for a mass disengagement of staff at TCN.”
The organization has also been carrying out sustained capacity building by training and retraining of staff across all cadres for efficiency and service delivery”, he added.
Engr. Aliyu pointed out that transmission is a vital segment of the electricity value chain that constantly needs significant investment, stressing that “as is the best practice across the world, the government of Nigeria maintains the transmission segment of the power value chain even when other segments have been privatized. Currently, the federal government is investing and supporting efforts to make TCN a world-class transmission service provider”.
Recall that electricity workers in TCN had gone on strike last month citing opposition to the privatisation of the company as one of the reasons. The strike led to the shutdown of the national grid.