The Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN has told the House of Representatives Ad-hoc Committee investigating expenditure in Nigeria’s power sector that lack of funding, right of way challenges, vandalism and insecurity have delayed the completion of over 100 ongoing power projects nationwide.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of TCN, Sule Ahmed Abdulaziz, disclosed this at the resumed investigative hearing of the committee in Abuja.
Abdulaziz said the company receives less than N2 billion as annual budgetary allocation despite having several projects requiring billions of naira to be fully completed before they can function.
He explained that, unlike road construction, where completed portions can be used, power projects cannot be utilised until they are 100 per cent completed.
The TCN boss said the company was also facing serious right of way challenges across several states, where structures are erected under transmission lines, obstructing the siting of electricity infrastructure.
According to him, state governments are currently demanding about N3 trillion from TCN as ground rent and compensation.
Abdulaziz said some state governments are influenced by consultants to treat TCN projects as revenue-generating avenues, leading to excessive compensation and ground rent demands that have accumulated into trillions of naira.
He stated that in many cases, compensation costs exceed the actual project costs.
The TCN managing director also disclosed that electricity distribution companies currently owe TCN over N450 billion, while government power subsidies further constrain revenue generation.
He said insecurity, vandalism and other acts of sabotage have continued to disrupt project execution, noting that insurgents have destroyed electricity towers in several insecure areas, while economic saboteurs vandalise transmission infrastructure.
According to him, repairs often take months and require substantial funding, further delaying operations.
“This is where I started to mention our problems. Our greatest problem is funding. Honourable Chairman, we have a lot of projects that started in 2001 and up till now they are not completed,” he explained
“We have over 100 or 120 ongoing projects, and we will need something around N2 trillion to complete these projects,” Abdulaziz added.
After the presentation, Chairman of the committee, Honourable Ibrahim Aliyu, said the panel would embark on the assessment of selected power projects to make informed recommendations to the House.
“Of course, we will go with them to visit the generating companies and some of the distribution companies’ projects,” he said.
Aliyu noted that TCN plays a critical role in the power sector, stressing that without a reinforced transmission network, generated electricity cannot be effectively conveyed.
He added that collaboration between the federal and state governments is now easier following electricity being placed on the concurrent legislative list, expressing optimism that such cooperation would help reduce challenges affecting project execution.
PIAK