Financial Energy Review
..,……..,..Saying he did very well within the short period
The Federal Government has been urged to restore Dr. Usman Gur Mohammed as Managing Director/CEO of the Transmission Company of Nigeria, TCN, arguing that did very well during the short period.
Investigation showed that many top government officials in the power sector are opposed to his recent removal by the Minister of Power, Engr. Sale Mamman because of his numerous achievements.
One of them, who preferred not to be named because he was not permitted to speak, said: “Under his leadership, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) set the pace in the Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI), with huge investments in key areas, including additional lines and construction of substations nationwide. This partly explains why Nigeria has been able to increase its wheeling capacity from the initial 500MW in 2017, to the current over 8100 megawatts, MW. He was working to achieve 20,000 MW by 2022.
“He initiated several proactive projects and programmes to stabilize the grid for optimum performance, as shown in the Transmission Rehabilitation and Expansion Programme, (TREP), which secured USD 1.661 million loan from multi-lateral financing agencies to fund the TREP projects.
“As a firm believer in the capability of Nigerians, he assembled a team of TCN -in- house engineers to install and inaugurated over 68 power transformers, while 795 out of 819 TCN containers, abandoned at the ports for over 10 years were cleared and utilised.
“Mohammed gave priority to provision of functional Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA), good communication back bone and a spinning reserve for effective grid management.”
Another senior official, said: We did not expect him to be removed at this time because President Muhammadu Buhari had confirmed his appointment as MD/CEO of the company in 2018 for a four-year term.
He said: “The official said Mohammed attracted tremendous support from the global community, especially African Development Bank, ADB, which he came from on secondment to TCN. With the financial and other support of the bank toward the execution of power projects in Nigeria, we think AfDB deserved at least a little respect or regard in the treatment of its senior, who accepted to come and drive the operations of TCN.”
He added: “Probably, this explains why many workers went on rampage to protest against his sudden removal.”
In a statement, the General Secretary, National Union of Electricity Employees, Mr. Joe Ajaero, had stated: “As it stands today, no MD/CEO in TCN has provided for the welfare and happiness of workers in the sector better than Mohammed.
“He has stabilised the network and system better than any person before him. Nobody has generated a lot of revenue for government more than U. G. Mohammed. Nobody has protected the interest of the country against foreign predators like U. G. Mohammed.
“The MD of TCN is there to serve the interest of government, electricity users in the country, the workers and Nigerians in general and not the selfish interest of any minister.
“While we commend our members for their response to the sad action of the minister, we urge them to remain on their work bits, but should not fail to pull out should the work stations be militarised, as witnessed in some locations.”
