Mohammed said some of the equipments were abandoned for 15 years ddue to TCN’s inability to pay due tariffs.
Usman Mohammedd, Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), says the company has recovered 693 of 800 containers abandoned in various ports in the country. In June, the firm which controls the operation of the national electricity grid, said 655 containers had been gotten back. This means 38 more have been recovered within the past month.
Mohammed said some of the equipments were abandoned for 15 years ddue to TCN’s inability to pay due tariffs. Besides the 107 containers yet to be recovered, there are over 200 that have been auctioned by the Nigerian Customs Service according to the TCN bosss.
“we were able to recover 693 containers as of last week, out of a total of 800 containers that have been in the ports. Some of these containers have been there for 15 years. Others have been auctioned and we had to trace the auctioneers to get the containers. “TCN still has over 200 other containers auctioned by the Customs outside the ports,” he revealed.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), he soon switched discourse to the controvercial N72 billion loan the firm approached the government for on behalf of the distribution companies.
“The government is supporting us. And with the same way they are supporting us, I know that as government have beamed its searchlight on the distribution companies, they are going to solve the problems with power distribution,” he enthused.
At the commissioning of a transformer in Bauchi in May, Usman Mohammed had revealed the approval of the loan by the Federal Executive Council. He said the loan will be applied by the grid operators on behalf of the Ministry of Power, Works and Housing, where distribution networks are unable to pick-up electricity from TCN. Mohammed had also disclosed that any of the 11 Distribution companies who cannot pay back the credit will forfeit the equivalent in shares to the government. The Bureau of Public Enterprise, owns a 40 per cent stake in 10 Discos, while the federal government has full ownership of the Yola Electricity Distribution Company
The distribution companies have however maintained that they were not consulted before such a loan was obtained. They have also queried the legality of TCN administering such a facility on a fellow player in the sector.