Sule Abdulaziz, the Managing Director and CEO of Nigeria’s Power Transmission Company, has announced that Nigeria will be forced to move to neighboring Togo and Benin for 24 hours, amid ongoing debate in the country following the recent grid collapse. It was revealed that the company is supplying electricity for hours.
“We supply Togo, Benin and Niger. They receive electricity from Nigeria 24 hours a day and they pay for it,” Abdulaziz told Channels TV on Sunday. He said this during an appearance on Politics Tonight.
When asked why many Nigerians do not enjoy uninterrupted electricity, he said: “Nigerians have 24-hour power supply, but not everyone does. Band A users receive 20 to 22 hours of power supply.”
Band A customers will receive priority electricity for 20 to 24 hours, Band B customers for 16 to 20 hours, and Band C customers for 12 to 16 hours each day, PUNCH Online reports.
Abdulaziz expressed optimism that stable electricity supply could be achieved across Nigeria within five years.
“What I am saying is that within five years we will have a stable electricity supply. The new minister is looking at the issue, not having a superficial confrontation.” said.
He emphasized that the system collapse was not necessarily caused by the TCN.
“If a system collapse were to occur, not all problems would be caused by the TCN. They could also be caused by generation, transmission, and distribution. Some of them could be caused by disasters. So you can’t blame TCN. TCN is in charge of managing the power grid,” he said.
Abdulaziz also clarified the difference between TCN and the now-defunct National Electricity Corporation.
“People need to understand the difference between TCN and Nepa. When we were Nepa, we were producing, transmitting, distributing and marketing.
But now I’m only doing one leg of the transmission. However, problems can arise in all other areas, such as power generation and distribution. “But people only know Nepa and think TCN is NEPA, so they shift the blame onto TCN,” he said.
The TCN chief highlighted infrastructure challenges, noting that much of the equipment is outdated.
“Most of the equipment we use is over 50 years old,” he lamented.
On electricity prices, Abdulaziz maintained that electricity prices in Nigeria are relatively affordable.
“Electricity is currently expensive in Nigeria, but we feel it is expensive because we are getting electricity at a cheaper price.If you go to other African countries, go to Burkina Faso, Senegal, Niger . It’s cheaper in Nigeria.”
