TCN: We’re not to blame for all grid collapses

Sule Abdulaziz, chief executive officer (CEO), Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), says TCN is not to blame for all national grid collapses in the country.

In an interview with Channels TV’s ‘Sunday Politics’ on Sunday, Abdulaziz said system collapse could be caused by generation, transmission, and distribution issues.

“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,” he 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. So if there is any system collapse, we have to make studies, find out what is the cause of this grid collapse.

“But you cannot say it is the fault of TCN, just like that. But TCN are the ones that are managing the grid.”

‘GRID COLLAPSED TWICE LAST WEEK, NOT THRICE’

On October 19, the national electricity grid collapsed for the third time within a week and the eighth time in 2024.

However, Abdulaziz said the grid disturbance occurred twice in the week.

“We have grid disturbances two times. The first one was on Monday and the second one was yesterday on Saturday,” the TCN CEO said.

“So 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.”

He said the commission is supposed to do better to avoid frequent collapses.

“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,” he said.

“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.”

‘TRANSMISSION SYSTEM NEEDS MASSIVE INVESTMENT’

According to Abdulaziz, the transmission system needs a lot of investment, adding that the sector was neglected for many years.

“So, most of the equipment we are using, some of them are even 50 years old, some 40 years old,” he said.

“So it is not possible for those equipment to work perfectly.”

Abdulaziz said investment should be continuous.

“Continuously, we build new substations, we buy spare parts and change some of the outdated,” he said.

“You see, it cannot be done once. It is bit by bit. And if you look at the TCN, most of the funds we are using is from internally generated revenue (IGR).

“There are some projects that are sponsored from the federal budget, but most of the maintenance is carried out by IGR.

“So what we do every year is that we schedule some maintenance, changing some of the old equipment.”

However, he said all grid infrastructure can not be upgraded at the same time.

On October 17, Adebayo Adelabu, minister of power, said the frequent system failure at the national grid is inevitable due to the outdated infrastructure.