Despite its inability to provide steady electricity for Nigerians amid regular collapse of the national grid, Nigeria’s electricity regulatory body, Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN), says Nigeria supplies 24-hour electricity to neighbouring Togo, Benin and Niger.
The Managing Director and CEO of TCN, Sule Abdulaziz, who disclosed this in an interview programme on Sunday night, confessed that the three neighbouring countries enjoyed regular power supplied by Nigeria.
“We supply Togo, Benin, and Niger. They get power from Nigeria on a 24-hour basis, and they are paying for it,” Abdulaziz stated during the programme.
When he was asked why many Nigerians do not enjoy uninterrupted power like the residents of the countries, the TCN CEO said there are some Nigerians who enjoy 24-hour electricity.
“Nigerians are getting 24-hour supply, but it’s not everyone. Those in Band A receive 20-22 hours of power supply.”
Abdulaziz however, expressed optimism about achieving a consistent electricity supply across Nigeria within five years.
“I am telling you we can get consistent power supply in less than five years. The new minister is looking at the problems, he is not doing cosmetic showdowns.
“If there is a system collapse, it doesn’t mean all the problems are from TCN, it can be from generation, it can be from transmission it can be from distribution. Some of these can also come from disaster. You cannot say it is the fault of the TCN just like that. TCN are in charge of managing the grid.
“People have to understand the difference between the TCN and Nepa. When we were Nepa, we were the ones doing the generation, transmission, distribution and marketing.
“But now we are only doing one leg which is transmission. But there could be issues in all other sectors which are the generation and the distribution. But people only know Nepa and they think TCN is NEPA and they put the blame on TCN.
“Most of the equipment we use is over 50 years old. Electricity is now expensive in Nigeria, we feel it is expensive because we are getting it at a cheaper price. If you go to other African countries, go to Burkina Faso, Senegal, Niger; Nigeria is cheaper,” he stated.