Power ministry to prioritise TCN funding towards 10,000mw transmission
The Federal Government will henceforth make it its major priority to assist the Transmission Company of Nigerian (TCN) in accessing long-term expansion funding.
These funding matrixes are to ensure a reliable transmission network system that is capable of conveniently wheeling up to 10,000mw of electric power produced in the country, both in the short and medium term, and to provide a solid foundation for future growth of the sector.
Among them are the proposed Transmission Development Fund in Nigeria and other international development funding windows from multinational banks and related multilateral agencies.
Louis Edozien, permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Power, stated this Wednesday while speaking at the fifth Nigeria International Power Expo and Conference held in Abuja.
The permanent secretary, who was represented by Abayomi Adebisi, a director in the ministry, said the Muhammadu Buhari-led administration had shown singular leadership and initiatives in ensuring that Nigeria leapfrogged in its quest to achieving its dream of becoming one of the best economies in the world by the year 2020, through electricity self sufficiency.
He also rolled out a list of future policy options within the new private sector led power sector, which include the establishment and implementation of energy conservation and renewable energy policies, as well as those on embedded generation and coal to power.
“With the concrete result shown by privatisation in this short while, it has been clearly shown that the government alone cannot develop the power sector, but through shared responsibility with the private sector, more successes would be recorded,” he further said.
In his remarks, Abubakar Atiku, an engineer and deputy managing director of TCN, stated, “the company can now deliver 6,000mw of electricity nationwide without overloading its transmission system or suffering any incidence of system collapse.”
Atiku however bemoaned the paucity of funds that confronted the government-owned utility company in the 2015 appropriation, where only N1 billion was provided for all its funding needs.
He also said that, in order to bridge this funding gap, TCN was currently exploring external funding sources for the completion of its ongoing projects.
YANGE IKYAA