TCN plans additional power lines for Abuja – Mohammed

Usman Mohammed, Managing Director of Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) on Thursday unveiled plans towards provision of additional power lines through Lafia, Nasarawa State into Abuja.

Usman gave the assurance during a working visit to the FCT Minister, Muhammad Bello, who called for increase in the volume of electricity supplied to the territory from the national grid to effectively power critical infrastructure in the capital city.

The TCN helmsman who disclosed that the company is currently transmitting power into the FCT through Gwagwaglada and Suleja axis, however assured on a tripod arrangement with Lafia axis is being added.

He promised that TCN in collaboration with National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) will look into the FCT Minister’s request for more allocation of power to the Abuja zone.

In his remarks, Muhammad Bello, Minister of Federal Capital Territory (FCT) observed that the 11 percent electricity allocated from the national grid to the FCT and other neighboring states covered by the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) is grossly inadequate.

He therefore called on the TCN to allocate more power to the Abuja Distribution Company with specific instruction that the extra power should be dedicated to the territory.

“Powering the city’s critical infrastructure like the streetlights, the hospitals, water treatment plants and the entire waste management value chain, especially the liquid waste management has been a big challenge with epileptic power supply.

“We have been faced with a number of options, some which include just going off grid. But we realize that going off grid, the immediate solution will be using fossil fuels, putting generators all over the city and of course that affects the environment critically.

“Really, I want you to look at some short term solutions. We need power in Abuja, not just to make the city look beautiful but even for the security of the city. I’m sure when you go round the city at night, the infrastructure is there. We have put street lights in most of the major streets, but simply no power and we wouldn’t want to use generators in multiple locations,” the Minister noted.

Bello explained that the FCT’s geometric expansion has exceeded all plans and expectations; saying, “it is very clear even from our data and your records that the way in which the city has been expanding within the last two decades, we are talking of an area with a population running into six million already which is overstretched.”

The Minister who recalled that a special arrangement around the Katampe area which existed some years back took care of power supply to the FCT, called for a return of such projects to tackle the problem of power shortages in the capital city.

He noted that in the alternative, “We could also identify a system where you can run the streetlights directly from your facility and we are willing to pay, so that that can be looked at as a priority project, independent of the distribution company because it’s priority for us.

“The seat of power of the country is in Abuja with the President, National Assembly, the highest courts in the land as well as the diplomatic community are all here. This is the centre of Nigeria. We cannot afford to leave Abuja to be dark at night,” the Minister stressed.

He tasked TCN to look at specific areas in the Federal Capital City like the Central Business District, the Three Arms Zones, the hospitals and the security zones; emphasizing, “I don’t know what the legal implication will be but you could look at it under national security to find ways to solve that”.

Bello revealed that recently the FCT Administration released the sum of N500 million to the AEDC being part payment of its bills; stressing that FCTA has been very punctual in paying its electricity bills since he assumed office.

He stressed that the FCT Administration believes that power is a critical social infrastructure that every government has to support and assured them of his support and cooperation.