TCN: Not All Grid Collapses Are Our Fault; Some Equipment Is 40 to 50 Years Old

Sule Abdulaziz, the Chief Executive Officer of the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), has emphasized that TCN should not bear sole responsibility for the recurring national grid failures in the country.

In an interview on Channels TV’s Sunday Politics, Abdulaziz clarified that these collapses can result from various factors, including challenges related to generation, transmission, and distribution systems.

“TCN is in charge of the grid but if there’s a system collapse, it doesn’t mean that all the problems are from TCN,” Abdulaziz said. “It can be from generation, it can be from transmission, and it can be from distribution. And some of these also can come as a disaster.”

In response to the recent grid failures, Abdulaziz pointed out that there had been two grid disturbances within the week. “We have grid disturbances two times. The first one was on Monday and the second one was yesterday on Saturday,” he said.

However, he clarified that reports of an additional collapse on Tuesday, October 15, were inaccurate. “There are some news that says that the grid collapsed again on Tuesday. That one is not correct. On Monday, we were trying to restore the grid, then we had some setback, and that is when we had to start all over again, but it wasn’t a collapse.”

Abdulaziz recognized that the commission needs to put in greater effort to prevent frequent collapses, but he also highlighted the progress made since 2015. “But if you look at the records, the grid collapse has reduced from 2015. If you have all these records, you will see that from the year 2022, we spent over one and a half years, and there was no grid collapse. So we are doing our best.”

“We know we have to do more, but at least we are getting to know the issues and we are resolving them one by one,” he added.

The TCN CEO emphasized the necessity for significant investment in Nigeria’s transmission infrastructure, which he noted has been overlooked for many years.

“So, most of the equipment we are using, some of them are even 50 years old, some 40 years old. So it is not possible for those equipment to work perfectly,” Abdulaziz explained.

He emphasized that investment in grid infrastructure should be ongoing, pointing out the necessity of replacing outdated equipment. “Continuously, we build new substations, we buy spare parts and change some of the outdated [equipment],” he said. “You see, it cannot be done once. It is bit by bit.”

Abdulaziz also noted that while some projects receive funding from the federal budget, the majority of TCN’s maintenance activities are financed through internally generated revenue (IGR).

“Most of the funds we are using is from internally generated revenue. There are some projects that are sponsored from the federal budget, but most of the maintenance is carried out by IGR.”

He concluded by recognizing the difficulties of upgrading grid infrastructure, mentioning that it is not practical to upgrade everything at once. “So what we do every year is that we schedule some maintenance, changing some of the old equipment.”