FG decries $5.4bn power assets liability, commissions 120MVA transformers in Suleja

The Managing Director of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), Mr Usman Gur Mohammed has decried the liability left for the federal government after previous administration had sold off power assets for $5.4 billion with no improvement in the power sector.

Mr Mohammed said this on Friday when TCN commissioned two units of 60MVA transformers to deliver 96 megawatts (MW) of electricity at the Suleja substation to boost industrial activities in Niger State.

While appraising the significant progress the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has made in the sector after inheriting the liability, he said, “You heard that it was the Indian model, but India privatised only one state and the experience they gained from the State of Orisa, they used to privatise the other states. In our own, they took everything of the federal government and sold everything, and put a contingent liability of $5.4 billion on the country.”

With the new transformers, the capacity of the 132/33KV substation has been raised from 66MW to 162MW. The project which started in June 2016 and completed five months ago will boost the quality of power supply across 13 towns in Niger and other towns in Kaduna state.

Mohammed said while power generation is now at 7,000MW, transmission has risen to 8,000MW, noting that what should be fixed is the distribution section of the value chain.